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Volume    IV 


THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 


THE   CHURCH    UNIVERSAL 

BRIEF  HISTORIES  OF  HER  CONTINUOUS  LIFE 

A  SERIES  of  eight  volumes  dealing  with  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  day. 

Edited  by 
THE  REV.  W.  H,  HUTTON,  B.D. 

FELLOW   AND    TUTOR    OF    S.    JOHNS   COLLEGE,    OXFORD, 
AND   EXAMINING    CHArLAIN    TO   THE    BISHOP   OF    ROCHESTER 

The  Church  of  the  Apostles. 

The    Rev.    Lonsdale    Ragg,    M.A.,    Vicar   of    Tickencote, 
Rutlandshire,  and  Prebendary  of  Lincoln  Cathedral. 
4J-.  dd.  net. 

"  Mr.  Ragg  has  produced  something  far  better  than  a  mere  text-book  ; 
the  earlier  chapters  especially  are  particularly  interesting  reading.  The 
whole  book  is  well  proportioned  and  scholarly,  and  gives  the  reader  the 
benefit  of  wide  reading  of  the  latest  authorities.  The  contrasteil 
growth  and  fortunes  of  the  Judaic  Church  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Church 
of  the  Gentiles  are  particularly  clearly  brought  out." — Church  Times. 

"  Written  in  a  clear  and  interesting  style,  and  summarises  the  early 
records  of  the  growth  of  the  Christian  community  during  the  first 
century." — Irish  Ecclesiastical  Gazette. 

"A  careful  piece  of  work,  which  may  be  read  with  pleasure  and 
profit." — Spectator. 

The  Church  of  the  Fathers.    98-461. 

The  Rev.  Lkighton  Pullan,  ^LA.,  Fellow  of  St.  John's 
College,  and  Theological  Lecturer  of  St.  John's  and  Oriel 
Colleges,  Oxford,     ^s.  net. 

"  If  we  may  forecast  the  merits  of  the  series  by  Mr.  PuUan's  volume, 
we  are  prepared  to  give  it  an  unhesitating  welcome.  We  shall  be  sur- 
prised if  his  book  does  not  supersede  some  of  the  less  interesting  Church 
histories  which  have  seived  as  text-books  for  several  generations  of 
theological  students. " —  Guardian. 

"  The  student  <jf  this  important  period  of  Church  history— the  forma- 
tive period — has  here  a  clear  narrative,  packed  with  information  drawn 
from  authentic  sources  and  elucidated  with  the  most  recent  results  of 
investigation.  We  do  not  know  of  any  other  work  on  Church  history 
in  which  so  much  learned  and  accurate  instruction  is  condensed  into  a 
comparatively  small  space,  but  at  the  same  time  presented  in  the  form 
of  an  interesting  narrative.  Alike  the  beginner  and  the  advanced 
student  will  find  Mr.  Pullan  a  useful  guide  and  companion." 

Church  Times. 


THE   CHURCH    UNIVERSAL— Continued. 

The  Church  and  the  Barbarians.    461-1003. 

The  Editor.     3^.  6d.  net. 

"In  so  accomplished  hands  as  Mr.  Hutton's  the  result  is  an  in- 
structive and  suggestive  survey  of  the  course  of  the  Church's  develop- 
ment throughout  five  hundred  years,  and  almost  as  many  countries 
and  peoples,  in  Constantinople  as  well  as  among  the  Wends  and 
Prussians,  in  Central  Asia  as  well  as  in  the  Western  Isles." 

Review  of  Theology  and  Philosophy, 

"The  volume  will  be  of  great  value  as  giving  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  fascinating  struggle  of  the  Church  with  heathenism  during  those 
spacious  centuries." — Church  Times. 

The  Church  and  the  Empire.     1003-1304. 

By  D.  J.  Medley,  M.A.,  Professor  of  History  in  the  University 
of  Glasgow.     4i'.  6d.  tiet. 

The  Age  of  Schism.    1304-1503. 

By    Herbert    Bruce,    M.A.,    Professor    of    History    in    the 
University  College,  Cardiff.     3J.  dd.  net. 

*'  We  commend  the  book  as  being  fair  in  its  judicial  criticism,  a 
great  point  where  so  thorny  a  subject  as  the  Great  Schism  and  its 
issues  ate  discussed.  The  art  of  reading  the  times,  whether  ancient 
or  modern,  has  descended  from  Mr.  W.  H.  Hutton  to  his  pupil." 

Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"  It  is  a  great  period  for  so  small  a  book,  but  a  mastei-  of  his  subject 
knows  always  what  to  leave  out,  and  this  volume  covers  the  period  in 
comfort. " — Expository  Titnes. 

"Usually  such  an  'outline'  is  a  bald  and  bloodless  summary,  but 
Mr.  Bruce  has  written;  a  narrative  which  is  both  readable  and  well- 
informed.  We  "nave  pleasure  in  commending  his  interesting  and 
scholarly  v^oxV  ^' ■  -  GLisgcw  llcrorld.   , 


THE   CHURCH    UNIVERSAL— Cw/mz/^o'. 

The  Reformation.    1503-1648. 

By  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Whitney,  B.  D.  ,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  at  King's  College,  London.     5^.  net. 

"  A  book  on  the  Reformation  as  a  whole,  not  only  in  England,  but 
in  Europe,  has  long  been  needed.  .  .  .  This  present  volume  fills, 
therefore,  a  real  want,  for  in  it  the  Reformation  is  treated  as  a  whole. 
.  .  .  The  value  of  the  book  is  quite  out  of  proportion  to  its  size,  and 
its  importance  will  be  appreciated  by  all  those  whose  duty  or  inclina- 
tion calls  to  study  the  Reformation." — Guardian. 

**  It  is  certainly  a  very  full  and  excellent  outline.  There  is  scarcely 
a  point  in  this  momentous  time  in  regard  to  which  the  student,  and, 
indeed,  the  ordinary  reader,  will  not  find  here  very  considerable  help, 
as  well  as  suggestive  hints  for  '".fther  study." — Church  Union  Gazette. 


The  Age  of  Revolution.     1648-1815. 

By  the  Editor.     4^-.  (>d.  net. 

**  The  period  is  a  long  one  for  so  small  a  book,  but  Mr.  Hutton  has 
the  gift  not  of  condensing,  which  is  not  required,  but  of  selecting  the 
essential  events  and  vividly  characterizing  them." — Expository  Times. 

"  Mr.  Hutton's  past  studies  in  Ecclesiastical  History  are  sure  to 
secure  him  a  welcome  in  this  new  venture.  There  is  a  breadth  of 
treatment,  an  accurate  perspective,  and  a  charitable  spirit  in  all  that 
he  writes  which  make  him  a  worthy  associate  of  Creighton  and  Stubbs 
in  the  great  field  of  history." — Aberdeen  J ota-naL 


The  Church  of  Modern  Days.     1815-1900. 

By  the  Rev.  Le'GH-TON-  Pull.\n,  M.A,  \In preparation. 


LONDON:    RIVINGTCNS 


THE  CHURCH 
AND  THE   EMPIRE 

BEING   AN   OUTLINE   OF 

THE   HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH 

FROM  A.D.  1003  TO  A.D.  1304 


D.    J.    MEDLEY,    M.A. 

PROFESSOR    OF    HISTORY    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    GLASGOW 


N2V7   YORK 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

19(0 


«.      «   «   < 


EDITORIAL    NOTE 

WHILE  there  is  a  general  agreement  among 
the  writers  as  to  principles,  the  greatest 
freedom  as  to  treatment  is  allowed  to  writers  in 
this  series.  The  volumes,  for  example,  are  not 
of  the  same  leng;th.  Volume  II,  which  deals 
with  the  formative  period  of  the  Church,  is, 
not  unnaturally,  longer  in  proportion  than  the 
others.  To  Volume  VI,  which  deals  with 
the  Keformation,  has  been  allotted  a  similar 
extension.  The  authors,  again,  use  their  own 
discretion  in  such  matters  as  footnotes  and 
lists  of  authorities.  But  the  aim  of  the  series, 
which  each  writer  sets  before  him,  is  to  tell, 
clearly  and  accurately,  the  story  of  the  Church, 
as  a  divine  institution  with  a  continuous  life. 

W.  H.  HUTTON 


PREFACE 

THE  late  appearance  of  this  volume  of  the 
series  needs  some  explanation.  Portions  of 
the  book  have  been  written  at  intervals ;  but  it 
is  only  the  enforced  idleness  of  a  long  con- 
valescence after  illness  which  has  o-iven  me  the 
requisite  leisure  to  finish  it. 

I  have  tried  to  avoid  overloading  my  pages 
with  details  of  political  history ;  but  in  no 
period  is  it  so  easy  to  miss  the  whole  lesson 
of  events  by  an  attempt  to  isolate  the  special 
influences  which  afl'ected  the  organised  society 
of  the  Church.  The  interpretation  which  I 
have  adopted  of  the  important  events  at  Canossa 
is  not,  of  course,  universally  accepted ;  but  the 
fact  that  it  has  seldom  found  expression  in  any 
English  work  may  serve  as  my  excuse. 

The  Editor  of  the  series,  the  Eev.  W.  H. 
Huttpn,  has  laid  me  under  a  deep  obligation, 
first,  by  his  long  forbearance,  and  more  lately, 
by  his  frequent  and  careful  suggestions  over 
the  whole  book.  It  is  dangerous  for  laymen  to 
meddle  with  questions  of  technical  theology.  I 
trust  that,  guided  by  his  expert  hand,  I  have 
not  fallen  into  any  recognisable  heresy  ! 

Mears  Ashby, 

October,  1910. 


CONTENTS 


PACK 

Introductory  .  .  ...        1 


CHAPTER   I 
The  Beginnings  of  Church  Keform         .  .8 

CHAPTER   II 
Grkgory  VII  AND  Lay  Investiture  .21 

CHAPTER   III 
The  End  of  the  Quarrel  .  .  .         .       39 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Secular  Clergy     .  .  ...      57 

■**  CHAPTER   V 

Canons  and  Monks        .  .  ...       73 

CHAPTER  VI 
St.  Bernard     .  .  .  ...       92 

CHAPTER   VII 
The  Schoolmen  and  Theology   .  .  .        .111 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Guelp  and  Ghibelline  (I)  .  ...     125 


xii  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


CHAPTEE    IX 

PAOK 

Innocent  III    .  .  .  ...     145 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Papal  Power  in  the  Church  .  .     163 

CHAPTER   XI 
^    Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  the  Church  .181 

CHAPTER  XII 
Heresies  .  .  .  ...     198 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Mendicant  Orders  .  ...     216 

CHAPTER  XI Y 
The  Church  and  the  Heathen  .  ...     232 

CHAPTER  XV 
GuELF  AND  Ghibelline  (II)  .  ...     246 

CHAPTER   XVI 
The  Fall  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  Papacy  .    262 

CHAPTER   XVII 
The  Churches  of  the  East         .  ...    280 

APPENDICES 
I.     Bibliography  .  .  ...     289 

II.     List  of  Emperors  and  Popes  .  .         •     291 

Index  .  .  .  ...     295 


THE  CHUIiCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 


INTRODUCTORY 

THE   period   of   three   centuries  which  forms   our 
theme  is  the  central  period  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Its  interests  are  manifold ;  but  they  almost    political 
all  centre  round  the  great  struggle  between    thought 
Empire  and  Papacy,  which  gives  to  mediaeval    i"  Middle 
history  an  unity  conspicuously  lacking  in      ^^^' 
more   modern    times.      The    history   of    the    Church 
during   these  three  hundred  years  is  more  political 
than  at  any  other  period.     In  order  to  understand 
the  reason  for  this  it  will  be  well  at  the  outset  to 
sketch   in   brief    outline   the    political   theories   pro- 
pound'ed   in   the   Middle   Ages    on    the   relations   of 
Church  and  State.     So   only   can  we   avoid  the  in- 
evitable confusion  of  mind  which  must  result  from 
the  use  of  terms  familiar  in  modern  life. 

Mediseval  thought,  then,  drawing  its  materials  from 
Eoman,  Germanic  and  Christian  sources,  conceived 
the  Universe  as  Civitas  Dei,  the  State  of 

God,   embracino;    both    heaven   and   earth,       °\?  ° 
'  °  .         world. 

with  God  as  at  once  the  source,  the  guide 
and  the  ultimate  goal.     Now  this  Universe  contains 
numerous  parts,  one  of  which  is  composed  of  man- 
kind; and  the  destiny  of  mankind  is  identified  with 

B 


2     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

that  of  Christendom.  Hence  it  follows  that  mankind 
may  be  described  as  the  Commonwealth  of  the  Human 
Ivace ;  and  unity  under  one  law  and  one  government 
is  essential  to  the  attainment  of  the  divine  purpose. 

But  this  very  unity  of  the  whole  Universe  gives  a 
double  aspect  to  the  life  of  mankind,  which  has  to  be 
Duality  spent  in  this  world  with  a  view  to  its  con- 
of  organi-  tinuation  in  the  next.  Thus  God  has  ap- 
sation.  pointed  two  separate  Orders,  each  complete 

in  its  own  sphere,  the  one  concerned  with  the  arrange- 
ment of  affairs  for  this  life,  the  other  charged  with 
the  preparation  of  mankind  for  the  life  to  come. 

But  this  dualism  of  allegiance  was  in  direct  conflict 
with  the  idea  of  unity.  The  two  separate  Orders 
Relations  "^^ere  distinguished  as  Sacerdotmm  and 
of  Church  Regiium  or  Imperium ;  and  the  need  felt 
and  State,  "by  mediaeval  thinkers  for  reconciling  these 
two  in  the  higher  unity  of  the  Civitas  Dei  began 
speculations  on  the  relation  betv/een  the  ecclesiastical 
and  the  secular  spheres. 

The  champions  of  the  former  found  a  reconciliation 
of  the  two  spheres  to  consist  in  the  absorption  of  the 
Theory  secular  by  the  ecclesiastical.  The  one  com- 
of  Church  munity  into  which,  by  the  admission  of  all, 
party.  united  mankind  was  gathered,  must  needs  be 

the  Church  of  God.  Of  this  Christ  is  the  Head.  But  in 
order  to  realise  this  unity  on  eartli  Clirist  has  appointed 
a  representative,  the  Pope,  who  is  tlierefore  the  head  of 
botli  spheres  in  this  world.  But  along  witli  this  unity 
it  must  be  allowed  that  God  has  sanctioned  the  separate 
existence  of  the  secular  no  less  tlian  tluit  of  tlie 
ecclesiastical  dominion.  This  separation,  however, 
according  to  the  advocates  of  papal  power,  did  not 


INTRODUCTORY 


affect  the  deposit  of  authority,  but  affected  merely  the 
manner  of  its  exercise.  Spiritual  and  temporal  power 
in  this  world  alike  belonged  to  tlie  representative  of 
Christ. 

But  the  bolder  advocates  of  ecclesiastical  power 
were  ready  to  explain  away  the  divine  sanction  of 
temporal  authority.  Actually  existing  states  sinful 
have  often  originated  in  violence.  Thus  the  origin  of 
State  in  its  earthly  origin  may  be  regarded  State, 
as  the  work  of  human  nature  as  affected  by  the  Fall 
of  Man :  like  sin  itself,  it  is  permitted  by  God.  Con- 
sequently it  needs  the  sanction  of  the  Church  in  order 
to  remove  the  taint.  Hence,  at  best,  the  temporal 
power  is  subject  to  the  ecclesiastical :  it  is  merely  a 
means  for  working  out  the  higher  purpose  entrusted 
to  the  Church.  Pope  Gregory  YII  goes  farther  still 
in  depreciation  of  the  temporal  powder.  He  declares 
roundly  that  it  is  the  work  of  sin  and  the  devil 
"  Who  does  not  know,"  he  writes,  "  that  kings  and 
dukes  have  derived  their  power  from  those  who, 
ignoring  God,  in  their  blind  desire  and  intolerable 
presumption  have  aspired  to  rule  over  their  equals, 
that  is,  men,  by  pride,  plunder,  perfidy,  murder,  in 
short  by  every  kind  of  wickedness,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  prince  of  this  world,  namely,  the  devil  ?  "  But 
in  this  he  is  only  re-echoing  the  teaching  of  St.  Augus- 
tine ;  and  he  is  followed,  among  other  representative 
writers,  by  John  of  Salisbury,  the  secretary  and  cham- 
pion of  Thomas  Becket,  and  by  Pope  Innocent  III. 
To  all  three  there  is  an  instructive  contrast  between 
a  powder  divinely  conferred  and  one  that  has  at  the 
best  been  wrested  from  God  by  human  importunity. 

There  are  two  illustrations  of  the  relation  between 


4     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

the  spiritual  and  secular  powers  very  common  among 
lUustra-  papal  writers.  Gregory  VII,  at  the  begin- 
tion  of  ning  of   his  reign,  compares  tliem  to  the 

relations.  two  eves  in  a  man's  head.  r>ut  he  soon 
substitutes  for  this  symbol  of  theoretical  equality  a 
comparison  to  the  sun  and  moon,  or  to  the  soul  and 
body,  whereby  he  claims  for  the  spiritual  authority,  as 
represented  by  the  soul  or  the  sun,  the  operative  and 
illuminating  power  in  the  world,  without  and  apart 
from  which  tlie  temporal  authority  has  no  efficacy 
and  scarcely  any  existence.  An  illustration  equally 
common,  but  susceptible  of  more  diverse  interpreta- 
tion, was  drawn  from  the  two  swords  offered  to  our 
Lord  by  His  disciples  just  ])efore  the  betrayal.  It  was 
St.  Bernard  who,  taking  up  the  idea  of  previous 
writers  that  these  represented  the  sword  of  the  tiesh 
and  tlie  sword  of  the  spirit  respectively,  first  claimed 
that  they  botli  belonged  to  the  Church,  but  that,  while 
the  latter  was  wielded  immediately  by  St.  Peter's 
successor,  tlie  injunction  to  the  Apostle  to  put  up  in 
its  sheath  the  sword  of  the  flesh  which  he  had  drawn 
in  defence  of  Christ,  merely  indicated  that  he  was  not 
to  handle  it  himself.  Consequently  he  had  entrusted 
to  lay  hands  this  sword  which  denotes  the  temporal 
power,  lioth  swords,  however,  still  belonged  to  the 
Pope  and  typified  his  universal  control.  By  virtue  of 
his  possession  of  the  spiritual  sword  he  can  use  spiritual 
means  for  sui)ervisinf'  or  correctim^  all  secular  acts. 
But  although  he  should  render  to  Ca}sar  what  is 
Ciesar's,  yet  his  material  power  over  the  temporal 
sword  also  justifies  the  Pope  in  intervening  in  tem- 
poral matters  when  necessity  demands.  This  is  the 
explanation  of  the  much  debated  Translatio  Imperii, 


INTRODUCTORY  5 


the  transference  of  the  imperial  authority  in  800  a.d. 
from  the  Greeks  to  the  Franks.  It  is  the  Emperor  to 
whom,  in  the  first  instance,  the  Pope  has  entrusted 
the  secular  sword  ;  he  is,  in  feudal  phraseology,  merely 
the.diifiLyassal  of  theJPope.  It  is  the  unction  and 
coronation  of  the  Emperor  by  the  Pope  which  confer 
the  imperial  power  upon  the  Emperor  Elect.  The 
choice  by  the  German  nobles  is  a  papal  concession 
which  may  be  recalled  at  any  time.  Hence,  if  the 
imperial  throne  is  vacant,  if  there  is  a  disputed 
election,  or  if  the  reigning  Emperor  is  neglectful  of  | 
his  duties,  it  is  for  the  Pope  to  act  as  guardian  qilJ 
as  judge  ;  and,  of  course,  the  powers  which  he  can 
exercise  in  connection  with  the  Empire  he  is  still  more 
justified  in  using  against  any  lesser  temporal  prince. 

To  this  very  thorough  presentation  of  the  claims  of 
the  ecclesiastical  power  the  partisans  of  secular 
authority  had  only  a  half-hearted  doctrine  Theory  of 
to  oppose.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Pope  Imperial 
Gelasius  I  (492-6),  the  Church  herself  P^^^y- 
had  accepted  the  view  of  a  strict  dualism  in  the 
organisation  of  society  and,  therefore,  of  the  theo- 
retical equality  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  the 
secular  organs  of  government.  According  to  this 
doctrine  Sacerdotium  and  Imperium  are  independent 
spheres,  each  wielding  the  one  of  the  two  swords 
appropriate  to  itself,  and  thus  the  Emperor  no  less  than 
the  Pope  is  Vicarius  Dei.  It  is  this  doctrine  behind 
which  the  champions  of  the  Empire  entrench  themselves 
in  their  contest  with  the  Papacy.  It  was  asserted  by  the 
Emperors  themselves,  notably  by  Frederick  I  and 
Frederick  II,  and  it  has  been  enshrined  in  the  writings 
of  Dante. 


6  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE 

The  weak  point  of  this  theory  was  that  it  was  rather 
a  thesis  for  academic  debate  than  a  rallying  cry  for 
the  field  of  battle.  Popular  contests  are 
Its  weak-  £^^,  yi^tory,  not  for  delimitation  of  territory. 
And  its  weakness  was  apparent  in  this,  that 
while  the  thorough-going  partisans  of  the  Church 
allowed  to  the  Emperor  practically  no  power  except 
such  as  he  obtained  by  concession  of  or  delegation 
from  the  Church,  the  imperial  theory  granted  to  the 
ecclesiastical  representative  at  least  an  authority  and 
independence  equal  to  those  claimed  for  itself,  and 
readily  admitted  that  of  the  two  powers  the  Church 
could  claim  the  greater  respect  as  being  entrusted 
with  the  conduct  of  matters  that  were  of  more  per- 
manent importance. 

Moreover,  historical  facts  contradicted  this  idea  of 
equality  of  powers.  The  Church  through  her  re- 
presentatives often  interfered  with  decisive  effect  in 
the  election  and  the  rejection  of  secular  potentates  up 
to  the  Emperor  himself :  she  claimed  that  princes  were 
as  much  subject  to  her  jurisdiction  as  other  laymen, 
and  she  did  not  hesitate  to  make  good  that  claim  even 
to  the  excommunication  of  a  refractory  ruler  and — its 
corollary — the  release  of  his  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance.  Finally,  the  Church  awoke  a  responsive 
echo  in  tlie  hearts  of  all  those  liable  t^~bppression  or 
injustice,  when  she  asserted  a  right  of  interposing  in 
])urely  secular  matters  for  tlie  sake  of  sliielding  tliem 
from  wrong;  wliile  slie  met  a  real  need  of  the  age  in 
lier  exaltation  of  the  papal  power  as  the  general  re- 
feree in  all  cases  of  dilHcult  or  doubtful  jurisdiction. 

Thus  the  claims  of  each  power  as  against  the  other 
were    not    at    all    commensurate.       For    while    the 


INTRODUCTORY 


imperialists  would  agree  that  there  was  a  wide  sphere 
of  ecclesiastical  rule  with  which  the  Emperor  had  no 
concern  at  all,  it  was  held  by  the  papalists  that 
there  was  nothing  done  by  the  Emperor  in  any 
capacity  which  it  was  not  within  the  competence  of 
the  Pope  to  supervise. 


CHAPTER    1 
THE    BEGINNINGS   OF   CHURCH   REFORM 

PKEYIOUS  to  the  eleventh  century  there  had  been 
quarrels  between  Emperor  and  Pope.  Occasional 
Popes,  such  as  Nicholas  I  (858-67),  had  asserted  high 
prerogatives  for  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  but  we  have 
seen  that  the  Church  herself  taught  the  co-ordinate 
and  the  mutual  dependence  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
secular  powers.  It  was  the  circumstances  of  the  tenth 
century  which  caused  the  Church  to  assume  a  less 
complacent  attitude  and,  in  her  efforts  to  prevent  her 
absorption  by  tlie  State,  to  attempt  the  reduction  of 
the  State  to  a  mere  department  of  the  Church. 

With  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  as  the  official 

religion  of  the  Empire  tlie  organisation  of  the  Church 

tended  to  follow  the  arrangements  for  pur- 

^^y   .  poses  of  civil  government.     And  when  at  a 

investiture     ,    .  .    ,      .    .,  .   ,  in 

of  ecclesi-     ^^^^^'   period   civil    society   was    gradually 

astics.  organising  itself  on  that  hierarchical  model 

whicli  we  know  as  feudalism,  the  Church, 
in  the  persons  of  its  officers,  was  tending  to  become 
not  so  much  tlie  counterpart  of  the  State  as  an  integral 
part  of  it.  For  the  clergy,  as  being  the  only  educated 
class,  were  used  by  the  Kings  as  civil  administrators, 
and  on  the  great  officials  of  the  Church  were  bestowed 
extensive  estates  which  should  make  them  a  counter- 
poise to  the  secular  nobles.     In  theory  the  clergy  and 

8 


THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  CHURCH   REFORM     9 


people  of  the  diocese  still  elected  their  bishop,  but  in 
reality  he  came  to  be  nominated  by  the  King,  at  whose 
hands  he  received  investiture  of  his  office  by  the 
symbolic  gifts  of  the  ring  and  the  pastoral  staff,  and  to 
whom  he  did  homage  for  the  lands  of  the  see,  since  by 
virtue  of  them  he  was  a  baron  of  the  realm.  Thus  for 
all  practical  purposes  the  great  ecclesiastic  was  a 
secular  noble,  a  layman.  He  had  often  obtained  his 
high  ecclesiastical  office  as  a  reward  for  temporal 
service,  and  had  not  infrequently  paid  a  large  sum  of 
money  as  an  earnest  of  loyal  conduct  and  for  the 
privilege  of  recouping  himself  tenfold  by  unscrupulous 
use  of  the  local  patronage  which  was  his. 

Furthermore,  in  contravention  of  the  canons  of  the 
Church,  the  secular  clergy,  whether  bishops  or  priests, 
were  very  frequently  married.  The  Church,  clerical 
it  is  true,  did  not  consecrate  these  marriages  ;  marriage. 
but,  it  is  said,  they  were  so  entirely  recognised  that  the 
wife  of  a  bishop  was  called  Episcopissa.  There  was 
an  imminent  danger  that  the  ecclesiastical  order  would 
shortly  lapse  into  an  hereditary  social  caste,  and  that 
the  sons  of  priests  inheriting  their  fathers'  benefices 
would  merely  become  another  order  of  landowners.     V 

Thus  the  two  evils  of  traffic  in  ecclesiastical  offices, 
shortly  stigmatised  as  simony  and  concubinage — for 
the  laws  of    the  Church  forbade  any  more 
decent   description    of    the    relationship —    reform, 
threatened  to  absorb  the  Church  within  the 
State.     Professional    interests   and   considerations   of 
morality  alike  demanded  that  these  evils  should   be 
dealt   with.     Ecclesiastical   reformers   perceived    that 
the  only   lasting    reformation  was  one  which    should 
proceed  from  the  Church  herself.      It  was  among  the 


lo  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMFHiE 

secular  clergy,  the  parish  priests,  that  tliese  evils  were 
most  rife.  The  monasteries  had  also  gone  far  away 
from  their  original  ideals ;  but  the  tenth  century  had 
witnessed  the  establishment  of  a  reformed  Benedictine 
rule  in  the  Congregation  of  Cluny,  and,  in  any  case,  it 
was  in  monastic  life  alone  that  the  conditions  seemed 
suitable  for  working  out  any  scheme  of  spiritual 
_  improvement.  The  Congregation  of  Cluny  was  based 
-^upon  the  idea  of  centralisation;  unlike  the  Abbot  of 
the  ordinary  Benedictiiie  monastery,  who  was  con- 
cerned with  the  affairs  of  a  single  house,  the  Abbot 
of  Cluny  presided  over  a  number  of  monasteries,  each 
of  which  was  entrusted  only  to  a  Prior.  Moreover, 
1  the  Congregation  of  Cluny  was  free  from  the  visitation 
"^  of  the  local  bishops  and  was  immediately  under  the 
^  papal  jurisdiction.  What  more  natural  than  that  the 
monks  of  Cluny  should  advocate  the  application  to 
the  Church  at  large  of  those  principles  of  organisation 
which  had  formed  so  successful  a  departure  from  pre- 
vious arrangements  in  the  smaller  sphere  of  Cluny  ? 
Thus  the  advocates  of  Churcli  reform  evolved  both  a 
negative  and  a  positive  policy  :  the  abolition  of  lay 
investiture  and  the  utter  extirpation  of  tlie  practice 
of  clerical  marriaL!;es  were  to  shake  the  Churcli  free 
from  the  numbing  control  of  secular  interests,  and 
these  were  to  be  accomplished  by  a  centralisation  of 
the  ecclesiastical  organisation  in  the  hands  of  the 
Pope,  which  would  make  him  more  tlian  a  match  for 
the  greatest  secular  potentate,  tlie  successor  of  Ciesar 
himself. 

It  is  true  that  at  tlie  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century  there  seemed  little  cliance  of  the  accom- 
plishment  of    these   reforms.     If    the   great   secular 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF   CHURCH    REFORM     ii 

potentates  were  likely  to  cling  to  the  practice  of  in^ 

vestiture  in    order  to  keep  a   hold   over   a  body  of 

landowners    which,    whatever    their,   other 

oblii^ations,  controlled  perhaps  one-third  of        ^.nces  o 

^  '  ^  ^  reform. 

the  lands  in  Western  Christendom  ;  yet  the 

Kings  of  the  time  were  not  unsympathetic  to  ecclesias- 
tical reform  as  interpreted  by  Cluny.  In  France  both 
Hugh  Capet  (987-96)  and  Eobert  (996-1031)  appealed 
to  the  Abbot  of  Cluny  for  help  in  the  improvement  of 
their  monasteries,  and  this  example  was  followed  by 
some  of  their  great  nobles.  In  Germany  reigned  Henry 
II  (1002-24),  the  last  of  the  Saxon  line,  who  was 
canonised  a  century  after  his  death  by  a  Church 
penetrated  by  the  influences  of  Cluny.  It  was  the 
condition  of  the  Papacy  which  for  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury postponed  any  attempt  at  a  comprehensive 
scheme  of  reform.  Twice  already  in  the  course  of  the 
tenth  century  had  the  intervention  of  the  German 
King,  acting  as  Emperor,  rescued  the  see  of  Eome 
from  unspeakable  degradation.  But  for  nearly  150 
years  (904-1046),  with  a  few  short  interludes,  the 
Papacy  was  the  sport  of  local  factions.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eleventli  century  the  leaders  of  these  factions 
were  descended  from  the  two  daughters  of  the  notorious 
Theodora;  the  Crescentines  who  were  responsible  for 
three  Popes  between  1004  and  1012,  owing  their  influ- 
ence to  the  younger  Theodora,  while  the  Counts  of 
Tusculum  were  the  descendants  of  the  first  of  the  four 
husbands  who  got  such  power  as  they  possessed  from 
the  infamous  Marozia.  The  first  Tusculan  Pope,*" 
Benedict  VIII  (1012-24),  by  simulating  an  interest 
in  reform,  won  the  support  of  Henry  II  of  Germany, 
whom  he  crowned  Emperor;  but  in  1033  the  same 


12  THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE 

faction  set  up  the  son  of  the  Count  of  Tuscuhini,  a 
child  of  twelve,  as  Benedict  IX.  It  suited  the  Emperor, 
Conrad  II,  to  use  him  and  therefore  to  acknowledge 
him;  but  twice  the  scandalised  Eomans  drove  out  the 
youthful  debauchee  and  murderer,  and  on  the  second 
occasion  they  elected  another  Pope  in  his  place.  But 
the  Tusculan  influence  was  not  to  be  gainsaid. 
Benedict,  however,  sold  the  Papacy  to  John  Gratian, 
who  was  reputed  a  man  of  piety,  and  whose  accession 
as  Gregory  VI,  even  though  it  was  a  simoniacal  trans- 
action, was  welcomed  by  the  party  of  reform.  But 
Benedict  changed  his  mind  and  attempted  to  resume 
his  power.  Thus  there  were  three  persons  in  Eome 
who  had  been  consecrated  to  the  papal  office.  The 
Archdeacon  of  Kome  appealed  to  the  Emperor  Conrad's 
successor,  Henry  III,  who  caused  Pope  Gregory  to 
summon  a  Council  to  Sutri.  Here,  or  shortly  after- 
wards at  Piome,  all  three  Popes  were  deposed,  and 
althougli  Benedict  IX  made  another  attempt  on  the 
papal  throne,  and  even  as  late  as  1058  his  party  set 
up  an  anti-pope,  the  influence  of  the  local  factions  was 
superseded  by  that  of  a  stronger  power. 

But  the  alternative  offered  by  the  German  Kings 

was  no  more  favourable  in  itself  to  the  schemes  of  the 

reformers  than  the  purely  local  influences 

SO  Henry  III  in  104G  obtained  from  tlie 
Piomans  tlie  recognition  of  liis  rigid,  as  patrician  or 
princeps,  to  nominate  a  candidate  who  sliould  l)e 
formally  elected  as  their  l)isliop  by  the  Poman  people; 
and  as  Otto  III  in  1)96,  so  Henry  III  now  used  his 
oflice  to  nominate  a  succession  of  men,  suitable  indeed 
and  distinguished,  but  of  German  birth.    This  was  not 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  CHURCH   REFORM     13 

that  freedom  of  the  Church  from  lay  control  nor  the 
exaltation  of  the  papal  office  through  which  that  free- 
dom was  to  be  maintained.  Indeed,  so  long  as  fear 
of  the  Tusculan  influence  remained,  deference  to  the 
wishes  of  the  German  King,  who  was  also  Emperor, 
was  indispensable,  and  when  that  King  was  as  powerful 
as  Henry  III  it  was  unwise  to  challenge  unnecessarily 
and  directly  the  exercise  of  his  powers. 

But  Henry,  although,  like  St.  Henry  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  he  kept  a  strong  hand  on  his 
own  clergy,  was  yet  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with 
what  may  be  distinguished  as  the  moral  objects  of  the 
reformers ;  and,  indeed,  the  men  whom  he  promoted 
to  the  Papacy  were  drawn  from  the  class  of  higher 
ecclesiastics  who  were  touched  by  the  Cluniac  spirit, 
Henry's  first  two  nominees  were  short-lived.  His 
third  choice  was  his  own  cousin,  Bruno,  Bishop  of  - 
Toul,  who  accepted  with  reluctance  and  only  on 
condition  that  he  should  go  through  the  canonical 
form  of  election  by  the  clergy  and  people  of  Eome. 
On  his  way  to  Eome,  which  he  entered  as  a  pilgrim, 
he  was  joined  by  the  late  chaplain  of  Pope  Gregory  VI, 
Hildebrand,  who  had  been  in  retirement  at  Cluny 
since  his  master's  death.     Not  only  did  the 

T  TV 

new   Pope,   Leo    IX,   take    this    inflexible    ,  ^°      , 

.       (1048-54). 

advocate  of  the  Church's  claims  as  his  chief 
adviser,  but  he  surrounded  himself  with  reforming 
ecclesiastics  from  beyond  the  Alps.  Thus  fortified  Y 
he  issued  edicts  against  simoniacal  and  married  clergy; 
but  finding  that  their  literal  fulfilment  would  have 
emptied  all  existing  offices,  he  was  obliged  to  tone 
down  his  original  threats  and  to  allow  clergy  guilty 
of  simony  to  atone  their  fault  by  an  ample  penance.^ 


14    THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

But  Leo's  contribution  to  the  building  up  of  tlie  papal 
power  was  his  personal  appearance,  not  as  a  suppliant 
but  as  a  judge,  beyond  the  Ali)s.  Three  times  in 
his  six  years'  rule  he  passed  the  confines  of  Eome 
and  Italy.  On  the  first  occasion  he  even  held  a 
Council  at  Kheims,  despite  the  unfriendly  attitude 
of  Henry  I  of  France,  whose  efforts,  moreover,  to 
keep  the  French  bishops  from  attendance  at  the 
Council  met  with  signal  failure.  Here  and  elsewhere 
Pope  Leo  exercised  all  kinds  of  powers,  forcing  bishops 
and  abbots  to  clear  themselves  by  oath  from  charges 
of  simony  and  other  faults,  and  excommunicating  and 
degradinfj  those  who  had  offended.  And  while  he  re- 
duced  the  hierarchy  to  recognise  the  papal  authority, 
he  overawed  the  people  by  assuming  the  central  part 
in  stately  ceremonies  such  as  the  consecration  of  new 
churches  and  the  exaltation  of  relics  of  martyrs.  All 
this  was  possible  because  the  Emperor  Henry  III 
supported  him  and  welcomed  him  to  a  Council  at 
Mainz.  Nor  was  it  a  matter  of  less  importance  that 
these  visits  taught  the  people  of  Western  Europe  to 
regard  the  Papacy  as  the  embodiment  of  justice  and 
the  representative  of  a  higher  morality  than  that 
maintained  by  the  local  Church. 

Quite  unwittingly  Henry  Ill's  encouragement  of 
Pope  Leo's  roving  propensities  began  the  difficulties 
for  his  descendants.  It  is  true  he  nominated  Leo's 
successor  at  the  request  of  the  clergy  and  people 
of  Itome ;  but  Henry's  deatli  in  1056  left  the  German 
throne  to  a  child  of  six  under  the  regency  of  a  wuman 
and  a  foreigner  who  found  herself  faced  by  all  the 
hostile  forces  hitherto  kept  under  by  the  Emperor's 
powerful  arm.  And  when  Henry's  last  Pope,  Victor  II, 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    CHURCH    REFORM     15 


followed  the  Emperor  to  the  grave  in  less  than  a  year, 
the  removal  of  German  influence  was  com-  Effect  of 
plete^  The  effect  w;is  iustanianeous.  The  Henry  Ill's 
first  Pope  elected  directly  by  the  Eomans  death, 
was  a  German  indeed  by  birth,  but  he  was  the  brother 
of  Duke  Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  who,  driven  from  Ger- 
many by  Henry,  had  married  the  widowed  Marchioness 
of  Tuscany,  and  was  regarded  by  a  small  party  as  a 
possible  King  of  Italy  and  Emperor.  Whatever  danger 
there  was  in  the  schemes  of  the  Lotharingian  brothers 
was  nipped  in  the  bud  by  the  death  of  Pope  Stephen 
IX  seven  months  after  his  election.  Then  it  became 
apparent  that  the  removal  of  the  Emperor's  strong 
"Tiand  had  freed  not  only  the  upholders  of  ecclesiastical 
reform  but  also  the  old  Ptoman  factions.  The  attempt 
was  easily  crushed,  but  it  became  clear  to  the  reformers 
that  the  papal  election  must  be  secured  beyond  all 
possibility  of  outside  interference.  At  Hildebrand's 
suggestion  and  with  the  approval  of  the  German 
Court,  a  Burgundian,  who  was  Bishop  of  Florence, 
was  elected  as  Nicholas  11.  The  very  name  was  a 
challenge,  for  the  first  Nicholas  (858-67)  was  per- 
haps the  Pope  who  up  to  that  time  had  asserted  the 
highest  claims  for  the  See  of  Kome. 

The  short  pontificate  of  the  new  Nicholas  was  de- 
voted; largely  to  measures  for  securing  the  freedom  of 
papal  elections  from   secular  interference.    Provision 
By  a  decree  passed  in   a   numerously  at-    for  papal 
tended  Council  at  the  Pope's  Lateran  palace,    election, 
a  College  or  Corporation  was  formed   of  the  seven 
bishops  of  the  sees  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Eome,  together  with  the  priests  of  the  various  Ptoman 
parish  churches  and  the  deacons  attendant  on  them. 


i6    THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

To  the  members  of  this  body  was  now  specially  arro- 
gated the  term  Cardinal,  a  name  hitherto  applicable 
to  all  clergy  ordained  and  appointed  to  a  definite 
churcli.  To  all  lionian  clergy  outside  this  body  and 
to  the  people  there  remained  merely  the  right  of 
assent,  and  even  this  was  destined  to  disappear.  More 
important  historically  was  the  merely  verbal  reser- 
vation of  the  imperial  right  of  confirmation,  which 
was  further  made  a  matter  of  individual  grant  to  each 
Emperor  who  might  seek  it  from  the  Pope.  In  view  of 
the  revived  influence  of  the  local  factions  it  was  also 
laid  down  that,  although  Eome  and  the  Eoman  clergy 
liad  the  first  claim,  yet  the  election  might  lawfully 
take  ])lace  anywhere  and  any  one  otherwise  eligible 
might  be  chosen ;  wliile  the  Pope  so  elected  miglit 
exercise  his  authority  even  before  he  had  been  en- 
throned. 

But  in  tlie  presence  of  a  strong  Emperor  or  an 
unscrupulous  faction  even  these  elaborate  provisions 
Papacy  miglit  be  useless.  The  Papacy  needed  a 
and  champion  in   the  flesh,  who   should   have 

Normans,  nothing  to  gain  and  everytliing  to  lose  by 
attempting  to  become  its  master.  Such  a  protector 
was  ready  to  hand  in  the  Normans,  who,  recently 
settled  in  Southern  Italy,  felt  themselves  insecure  in 
the  title  by  wliicli  tliey  lield  their  possessions.  Soutliern 
Italy  was  divided  between  the  three  Lombard  duchies 
of  Benevento,  Capua  and  Salerno,  and  the  districts  of 
Calaljria  and  Apulia,  which  acknowledged  tlie  Viceroy 
or  Katapan  of  the  Eastern  Emperor  in  liis  seat  at 
Bari.  The  Saracens,  only  recently  expelled  from  the 
mainland,  still  lield  Sicily.  Norman  pilgrims  return- 
ing from  Palestine  became,  at  the  instigation  of  local 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF    CHURCH  REFORM     17 

factions,  Norman  adventurers,  and  their  leaders  ob- 
taining lands  from  the  local  Princes  in  return  for  help, 
sought  confirmation  of  their  title  from  some  legitimate 
authority.  The  Western  Empire  had  never  claimed 
these  lands,  but  none  the  less  Conrad  II  and  Henry  III, 
in  return  for  the  acceptance  of  their  suzerainty, 
acknowledged  the  titles  which  the  Norman  leaders 
had  already  gained  from  Greek  or  Lombard.  Kome 
was  likely  to  be  their  next  victim,  and  Leo  IX  toolc 
the  opportunity  of  a  dispute  over  the  city  of  Bene- 
vento  to  try  conclusions  with  them.  A  humiliating 
defeat  was  followed  by  a  mock  submission  of  the  con- 
queror. The  danger  was  in  no  sense  removed.  Pope 
Stephen's  schemes  for  driving  them  out  of  Italy  were 
cut  short  by  his  death,  and  meanwhile  the  Norman 
power  increased.  Thus  there  could  be  no  question  of 
expulsion,  nor  could  the  Papacy  risk  a  repetition  of 
the  humiliation  of  Leo  IX.  It  was  Hildebrand  who 
conceived  the  idea  of  turnincr  a  dangerous  neighbour 
into  a  friend  and  protector.  A  meeting  was  arranged 
at  Melfi  between  Pope  Nicholas  and  the  Norman  princes, 
and  there,  while  on  the  one  side  canons  were  issued 
against  clerical  marriage,  which  was  rife  in  the  south  of 
Italy,  on  the  other  side  Ptobert  Guiscard,  the  Norman 
leader,  recognised  the  Pope  as  his  suzerain,  and  obtained 
in  return  the  title  of  Duke  of  Apulia  and  Calabria  and 
of  Sicily  when  he  should  have  conquered  it.  Pope 
Leo's  agreement,  six  years  before,  had  been  made  by  a 
defeated  and  humiliated  ecclesiastic  with  a  band  of 
unscrupulous  adventurers.  Pope  Nicholas  was  dealing 
with  an  actual  ruler  who  merely  sought  legitimate  re- 
cognition of  his  title  from  any  whose  hostility  would  make 
his  hold  precarijous.  Thus  resting  on  the  shadowy  basis 
c 


iS    THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

of  tlie  donation  of  Constantine  the  Pope  substituted 
himself  for  the  Emperor,  wlietlier  of  AVest  or  of  East, 
over  the  whole  of  Southern  Italy.  Truly  the  move- 
ment for  the  emancipation  of  the  Church  from  the 
State  was  already  shaping  itself  into  an  attempt  at 
the  formation  of  a  rival  power. 

The  value  of  tliis  now  alliance  to  the  Papacy  w^as 
put  to  the  test  almost  immediately.  On  the  death 
^jgj^_  of    Pope   Nicholas   (1061)    the  papal  and 

ander  II  imperial  parties  proceeded  to  measure  their 
(1061-73)  strength  against  each  other.  The  re- 
an  Ml  an.  fQi.i^;jej.g^  acting  under  the  leadership  of 
Hildebrand,  chose  as  his  successor  a  noble  Milanese, 
Anselm  of  Baggio,  Bishop  of  Lucca,  wdio  now  became 
Alexander  IT.  He  was  elected  in  accordance  witli  tlie 
provisions  of  the  recent  Lateran  decree,  and  no  im- 
perial ratification  was  asked.  On  the  purely  eccle- 
siastical side  this  choice  was  a  strong  manifesto  against 
clerical  marriage.  The  city  of  Milan  as  the  capital  of 
the  Lombard  kingdom  of  Italy  had  for  many  centuries 
held  itself  in  rivalry  with  Eome.  Moreover,  it  was 
the  stronghold  of  an  aristocratic  and  a  married  clergy, 
which  based  its  practice  on  a  supposed  privilege 
granted  by  its  Apostle  St.  Ambrose.  But  this  pro- 
duced a  reforming  democracy  which,  perhaps  from 
the  quarter  whence  it  gained  its  chief  support,  was 
contemptuously  named  by  its  opponents  the  I'atarins 
or  Kag-pickers.  The  first  leader  of  this  democratic 
party  had  been  Anselm  of  Baggio.  Nicholas  II  sent 
thither  the  fanatical  Peter  Damiani  as  papal  legate, 
and  a  fierce  struggle  ended  in  tlie  abject  submission  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Milan,  wlio  attended  a  synod  at 
Bome  and  promised  ol)edience  to  the  I'ope. 


THE    BEGINNINGS   OF   CHURCH    REFORM     19 

The  weak  point  in  the  decree  of  Nicliolan   IT  liad 
been  tliat  the  (jernian  clergy  were  not  represented  at 
tlie  Council  which  issued  it,  and  it  was  con- 
strued in  Germany  as  a  manifest  attempt  of 

•^  ^  opposition. 

tlie  reforming  party  to  secure  the  Papacy 
for  Italy  as  against  the  German  influence  maintained 
by  Henry  HI.     The  lioman  nobles  also  had  seen  in 
the   decree    the  design   of   excluding  them  from  any 
sliare  in  the  election.     It  was  only  by  the  introduction 
of    Norman  troops   into   Eome    that   the   new    Pope 
could  be  installed  at  the  Lateran.     A  few  weeks  later 
a  synod  met  at  Basle  in  the  presence  of  the  Empress- 
Piegent  and  the  young  Henry  IV.     The  latter  was  in- 
vested with  the  title  of  Patrician,  and  the  election  of 
Alexander  having  been  pronounced  invalid,  a  new  Pope 
was  chosen  in  the  person  of  another  Lombard,  Cadalus 
Bishop  of  Parma,  who  had  led  the  opposition  to  the 
Patarins   in    the   province    of   Milan.     The   Normans 
were  recalled  to  their  dominions,  and  the  imperialist 
Pope,    Honorius    II,    was   installed    in   Eome.      The 
struggle    between    the   rival   Popes    lasted   for    three 
years  (1061-4),  and  fluctuated  with  the  fluctuations  of 
power  at  the  German  court.     Here  the  young  King 
had  fallen  under  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Hanno 
of  Koln,  who,  surrounded  by  enemies   in    Germany, 
hoped  to  gain  a  party  by  the  betrayal  of   imperial 
interests  in  the  recognition  of  the  decree  of  Nicholas 
II  and  of  the  claims  of  Alexander.    Again  by  the  help 
of  a  Norman  force  Alexander  was  installed  in  Eome, 
where  he  remained  even  when  Hanno's  influence  at  the 
German  court  gave  way  to  that  of  Archbishop  Adalbert 
of  Bremen.    Honorius,  however,  despite  the  desertion  by 
the  imperialist  party,  found  supporters  until  his  death 


20  THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

in  1072,  aiul  it  was  only  by  tlie  arms  of  1  )iike  Godfrey  of 
Tuscany  acting  for  the  imperialists  and  those  of  his  own 
Norman  allies  that  Alexander  held  Kome  until  his  death. 
Meanwhile  the  ecclesiastical  reformation  went 
steadily  on  under  the  direction  of  Hildehrand.  The 
Steps  yo^^^^o    King   Henry    endeavoured   to   free 

towards  himself  from  the  great  German  ecclesiastics 
reforma-  \v]io  lield  liim  in  thrall,  by  repudiating  the 
^'°"'  wife  whom  they  had  forced  upon  him.     He 

was  checked  by  the  austere  and  resolute  papal  legate, 
Peter  Damiani,  and  was  obliged  to  accept  Bertha  of 
Savoy,  to  whom  subsequently  he  became  much  attached. 
Peter  Damiani's  visit,  however,  brought  him  relief  in 
another  way,  for  the  legate  took  back  such  a  report 
of  the  prevalence  of  simony  that  the  archbishops  of 
IMainz  and  Koln  were  summoned  to  Pvome,  wlience 
tliey  returned  so  humiliated  that  their  political  in- 
fluence was  gone.  It  is  almost  equally  remarkable 
that  the  two  English  Archbishops  also  appeared  at 
Eome  during  this  Pontificate,  Lanfranc  of  Canterbury 
in  order  that  he  might  obtain  the  pall  without  which 
lie  could  not  exercise  his  functions  as  Archbishop,  and 
Thomas  of  York,  who  referred  to  tlie  Pope  his  con- 
tention that  the  primacy  of  England  should  alternate 
between  Canterbury  and  York.  In  France,  too,  we 
are  told  that  the  envoys  of  Alexander  interfered  in 
the  smallest  details  of  the  ecclesiastical  administration 
and  punished  without  mercy  all  clergy  guilty  of  simony 
or  of  matrimony.  Almost  the  last  public  act  of  Pope 
Alexander  was  to  excommunicate  five  counsellors  of 
the  young  3ving  of  Germany,  to  whom  were  attributed 
responsibility  for  his  acts,  and  to  summon  Henry  him- 
self to  answer  charges  of  simony  and  other  evil  deeds. 


CHAPTER    ll 
GREGORY   VII    AND   LAY    INVESTITURE 

THE  crowd  which  attended   the   funeral  of    Alex- 
ander TI  acclaimed  Hildebrand  as  his  successor. 
The  Cardinals  formally  ratified  the  choice    Gregory 
of  the  people,  and  contrary  to  the  wish  of    VII  (jXjJjijJiJ' 

the  German  bishops  the  young  King  Henry    (io73-85)- 
acquiesced. 

The  new  Pope  was  born  a  Tuscan  peasant  and 
educated  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Mary's  on  the 
Aventine  in  Rome.  His  uncle  was  the  Abbot,  and 
the  monastery  was  the  Roman  lodging  of  the  Abbot  of 
Cluny.  Hildebrand  entered  the  service  of  Gregory  VI, 
whom  he  followed  into  exile.  On  his  master's  death 
in  1048  Hildebrand  retired  to  Cluny.  Hence  he  w^as 
drawn  once  more  back  to  Rome  by  Pope  Leo  IX. 
From  this  moment  his  rise  w^as  continuous. 

Leo  made  him  a  Cardinal  and  f^ave  him  the    ^ 

°  to  power. 

charge  of  the  papal  finances.  In  1054  he 
sent  him  as  legate  to  France  in  order  to  deal  with  the 
heresy  of  Berengar  of  Tours.  Hildebrand  was  no 
theologian,  and  he  accepted  a  very  vague  explanation 
of  Berengar's  views  upon  the  disputed  question  of 
the  chancre  of  the  elements  in  the  Sacrament.  On 
Leo's  death  Hildebrand  headed  the  deputation  which 
was  sent  by  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome  to  ask 
Henry  III  to  nominate  his  successor;  and  again,  on 

21 


'>  'J 


THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 


the  death  of  Victor  II,  although  Hildebrand  took  no 
part  in  the  choice  of  Stephen  IX,  it  was  he  who 
went  to  Germany  to  obtain  a  confirmation  of  the  elec- 
tion from  the  Empress-Eegent.  On  Stephen's  death 
--Hildebrand's  prompt  action  obtained  the  election  of 
Nicholas  II.  It  was  probably  Hildebrand  who  worded 
the  decree  regulating  the  mode  of  papal  elections, 
and  whose  policy  turned  the  Normans  from  trouble- 
some neighbours  into  faithful  allies  and  useful  instru- 
ments of  the  papal  aims.  Nicholas  rewarded  liim 
witli  the  office  of  Archdeacon  of  Eome,  which  made 
him  the  chief  administrative  officer  of  the  Eoman 
see  and,  next  to  tlie  Pope,  the  most  important  person 
in  the  Western  Church.  Hildebrand  was  the  chief 
ao-ent  in  the  election  of  Alexander  II ;  and  tlie  ulti- 
mate  triumph  of  Alexander  meant  the  reinstatement 
of  Hildebrand  at  head-quarters.  Thus  it  had  long 
been  a  ([uestion  of  how  soon  the  maker  of  Popes 
would  himself  assume  the  papal  title,  and  this  was 
settled  for  him  by  the  acclamations  of  the  people. 
In  memory  of  his  old  master  he  took  the  title  of 
Gregory  VII.  As  yet  he  was  only  in  deacon's  orders. 
Witliin  a  month  he  was  ordained  priest ;  but  another 
montli  or  more  elapsed  before  he  was  consecrated 
bishop. 

At  last  the  individual  who  was  most  identified  in 
men's  minds  with  the  forward  movement  in  the  Churcli 
Q  was  the  acknowledged  liead  of  the  ecclesi- 

tunity  of  astical  organisation  in  tlie  West.  For  more 
reform.  than  twenty  years  he  had  been  at  head- 
(piarters  intimately  knowing  and  ultimately  directing 
the  course  of  policy.  It  was  mainly  by  liis  exertions 
that  the  Church  was  now  officiallv  committed  to  tho 


GREGORY   VII    AND    LAY    INVESTITURE     23 


views  of  the  Cluniac  reformers.  Yet  so  much  opposi- 
tion had  been  called  forth  as  to  show  that  the  success 
of  the  party  hitherto  had  depended  merely  on  the 
circumstances  of  the  moment.  The  time  seemed  to 
have  arrived  when  matters  should  be  brouglit  to  an 
issue.  The  continued  existence  of  the  Eoman  factions 
and  the  power  of  Henry  III  had  made  compromise 
necessary,  and  the  general  result  of  the  reformers' 
efibrts  upon  the  Church  had  been  inappreciable.  But 
the  lapse  of  time  had  done  at  least  two  things— it  had 
cleared  the  issue  and  it  had  brought  the  opportunity. 

Tlie  Church  was  so  entirely  enmeshed  in  the  feudal 
notions  of  the  age  that  at  first  it  was  not  very  clear 

to  the  reformers  where  it  would  be  most 

Direction 

effective  to  begin  in  the  process  of  cutting    ^^  which 
her  free.     But  by  this  time  it  was  seen    reform 
that  the  real  link  which  bound  the  Church    should 
to   the    State   was    the   custom   by   which 
princes   took  it  on   themselves  to   give  to  the  new 
bishop,  in  return  for  his  oath  of  homage,  Juv^titum. 
of  his  office  and  lands  by  the  presentation  of  the  ring 
which  symbolically  married  him  to  his  Church,  and 
of   the  pastoral  staff  which    committed   to   him   the 
spiritual   oversight   of   his    diocese.      Probably   there 
was   not   a    single    prince   in   Western   Europe   who 
pretended  to   confer  on  the  new  bishop  any  of   his 
spiritual  powers ;  but  the  two  spheres  of  the  episcopal 
work  had  become  inextricably  confused,  and  in  the 
decay  of  ecclesiastical  authority  the  lay  power  had 
treated  the  chief  ecclesiastics  as  mainly  great  officers 
of  State  and  a  special  class  of  feudal  baron.     In  the 
eyes  of  the  reformers  the  entire  dealing  of  the  King 
with   the  bishops  was  an  act    of  usurpation,  nay,  of 


24  THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 


sacrilege.  Ecclesiastics  owed  to  the  sovereign  of  the 
country  the  oath  of  fealty  demanded  of  all  subjects. 
But  for  the  rest,  neither  bishop,  abbot,  nor  parish 
priest  could  be  a  feudal  vassal.  The  land  which  any 
ecclesiastic  held  by  virtue  of  his  office  liad  been  given 
to  the  Church ;  the  utmost  claim  that  any  layman 
could  make  regarding  it  was  to  a  right  or  rather  duty 
of  protection,  ^f  the  Church  was  to  be  restored  to 
freedom,  investiture  with  ring  and  stall',  and  the 
control  of  the  lands  during  vacancy  of  an  ecclesiastical 
office  must  all  be  claimed  back  for  the  Church  herself 
The  oath  of  homage  would  then  naturally  disappear, 
and  there  would  no  longer  be  that  confusion  of  spheres 
which  had  resulted  in  the  laicisation  and  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  Church. 

Moreover,  the  moment  was  propitious  for  asserting 
these  views  to  the  fullest  extent.  The  chief  rei)re- 
jj  j^  sentative  of  lay  authority  was  no  longer 
and  the  ^  powerful  Emperor  nor  even  a  minor  in 
German  the  tutelage  of  others.  He  was  a  King 
clergy.  ^f   f^^   ^gg^   whose    wayward,  not    to   say 

vicious,  courses  had  alienated  large  numbers  of  his 
})eople.  It  is  true  that  Henry  IV  never  had  much 
chance  of  becoming  a  successful  ruler.  Taken  from 
his  mother  at  the  age  of  twelve,  for  the  next  ten  years 
(1062-72)  he  had  been  controlled  alternately  by  two 
guardians,  of  whom  one,  Adalbert,  Archbisliop  of 
Bremen,  allowed  him  every  indulgence,  while  the  other, 
Hanno,  Archbishop  of  Koln,  hardly  suffered  him  to 
have  a  mind  of  his  own.  Since  he  had  become  his  own 
master  he  had  plunged  into  war  with  his  Saxon 
subjects.  Henry,  entangled  in  this  war,  answered 
Gregory's   first   admonitions   in   a  conciliatory   tone ; 


GREGORY   VII    AND   LAY   INVESTITURE     25 


but  in   1075  he  decisively  defeated  the   Saxons  and 
was  in    no  mood   to  listen  to  a  suggestion  for   the 
diminution  of  the  authority  of  the  German  King  in 
his  own   land,   which   he    had  just   so    triumphantly 
vindicated.     For  Henry  imitated  his  predecessors  in 
practising  investiture  of  bishops  both  in  Germany  and 
in  Italy;   and  he  realised  that  the  summons  of  the 
Pope  to  the  temporal  princes  that  they  should  give 
up  such  investiture  would  mean  the  transference  to 
the   Papacy   of    the   disposal   of    the    temporal   fiefs. 
This  would  involve  the  loss  at  one  blow  of  half  the 
dominions  of  the  German  King.     Moreover,  he  was 
encouraged  in  an  attitude  of  resistance  by  the  feeling 
of  the  German  Church.     At  the  first  Lenten  Synod 
held  in  the  Lateran  palace  after  Gregory's  accession 
canons  were  issued  forbidding  all  married  or  simon- 
iacal   ecclesiastics    to    perform    ministerial   functions 
and  all  laity  to  attend  their  ministrations.    Immediate 
opposition    was    raised  ;     the    German    clergy    were 
especially  violent :  they  declared  that  this  prohibition 
of  marriage  was   contrary  to  the  teaching  of  Christ 
and   St.  Paul,  that  it  attempted  to   make  men   live 
like  angels    but   would    only  encourage    licence,  and 
that,   if    it    were    necessary   to    choose,   they   would 
abandon    the    priesthood    rather    than    their   wives. 
Gregory,  however,  sent  legates  into  various  districts 
armed  with    full   powers,  and   succeeded   in   rousing 
the  populace  against  the  married  clergy. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that   Gregory's 
Gregory  determined  to  bring  to  an  issue   decree 
the  chief  question  in  dispute  between  Church   against 
and  State.      Hitherto  he  had  said  nothing 
against  the  practice  of  lay  investiture.      Now,  how- 


26  THE   CHURCH   AND   tUP.   EMPIRE 

ever,  at   the   Lenten   Synod   in   1075,   a    decree  was 

issued   wliicli    condemned  both   the  ecclesiastic,  high 

or  low,  who  should  take  investiture  from  a  layman, 

and  also  the  layman,  however  exalted  in  rank,  who 

should  dare  to  i^ive  investiture.     The  decree  had  no 

immediate  effect,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  Gregory 

followed  it  up  with  a  letter  to  the  King,  in  which  he 

threatened   excommunication   if    before   the   meeting 

of    the   next   usual    Lenten    Synod   Henry    had   not 

amended  liis  life  and  got  rid  of  his  councillors,  who 

had  never  freed  themselves  from  the  papal  ban. 

Henry's  answer  was  given  at  a  Synod  of  German 

ecclesiastics  at  Worms,     Cardinal  Hugh  the  White, 

who  for  personal  reasons  had  turned  against 

Henry  s  Grei^ory,  accused  him  of  the  most  incredible 
answer.  o     ./ '  i     i  •        i  •  i 

crimes,  and  a  letter  was  despatched  in  which 

the  bishops  I'enounced  their  obedience.  Henry  also 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Pope,  which  quite  surpassed 
that  of  the  bishops  in  violence  of  expression.  "  Henry, 
King  not  Ijy  usurpation  but  by  the  holy  ordination  of 
God,  to  Hildebrand  now  no  apostolic  ruler  but  a 
false  monk."  It  accused  him  of  daring  to  threaten  to 
take  away  the  royal  power,  as  if  Henry  owed  it  to 
the  Pontiff  and  not  to  God:  and  it  concluded  by  a 
summons  to  him  to  descend  from  his  position  in  favour 
of  some  one  "who  shall  not  cloak  liis  violence  witli  re- 
ligion, but  shall  teach  the  sound  doctrine  of  St.  Peter." 
It  was  notliing  new  for  a  I'ope  to  be  deposed  by  a 
Council  presided  over  by  the  Emperor.  And  it  is 
true  that  the  same  resolution,  transmitted  by  delegates 
from  AVorms,  was  adopted  at  Piacenza  by  a  Synod  of 
Italian  bishops.  But  on  this  occasion  the  sentence 
was  uttered  by  an   assembly  of  exclusively  German 


GREGORY    VII    AND    LAY    INVESTITURE     2^ 


bishops,  presided  over  by  a  King  who  was  not  yet 
crowned  Emperor.  If  such  a  sentence  was  to  be 
effective,  Henry  should  have  followed  it  up  by  a 
march  to  Rome  with  an  adequate  army.  He  merely 
courted  defeat  when  he  gave  the  Pope  the  opportunity 
for  a  retort  in  kind.  Anathema  was  the  papal  weapon, 
and  while  the  Kind's  declaration  might  even  be  re- 
sented  by  other  rulers  as  an  attempt  to  dictate  to 
them  in  a  matter  of  common  concern  to  all,  the  papal 
sentence  on  the  King  was  regarded  by  all  as  influenc- 
ing the  fate,  not  of  the  King  only,  but  of  all  who 
remained  in  communication  with  him,  if  not  in  this 
world,  at  any  rate  in  the  world  to  come.  Moreover, 
in  this  particular  case,  while  no  one  believed  the 
monstrous  charges  against  Gregory,  there  was  sufficient 
in  Henry's  past  conduct  to  give  credibility  to  anything 
that  micrht  be  uro^ed  aci;ainst  him. 

Gregory's  rejoinder  was  delivered  at  the  Lenten 
Synod  of  1076.  As  against  the  twenty-six  German 
bishops  assembled  at  Worms,  this  Council  Qreg-ory 
contained  over  a  hundred  bishops  drawn  deposes 
from  all  parts  of  Christendom,  while  among  Henry, 
the  laity  present  was  Henry's  own  mother,  the  Empress 
Agnes.  Gregory  used  his  opportunity  to  the  full.  In 
the  most  solemn  strain  he  appealed  to  St.  Peter,  to 
the  Virgin  Mary,  to  St.  Paul  and  all  the  saints,  to 
bear  witness  that  he  himself  had  unwillingly  taken 
the  Papacy.  To  him,  as  representative  of  the  Apostle, 
God  had  entrusted  the  Christian  people,  and  in  re- 
liance on  this  he  now  withdrew  from  Henry,  as  a 
rebel  against  tlie  Church,  the  rule  over  the  kingdoms 
of  the  Teutons  and  of  Italy,  and  released  all  Chris- 
tians from  any  present  or  future  oath  made  to  him. 


J 


28  THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 


Finally,  for  his  omissions  and  commissions  alike, 
Henry  is  bound  in  the  bonds  of  anathema  "  in  order 
that  people  may  know  and  acknowledge  that  thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  thy  rock  the  Son  of  the  living 
God  has  built  His  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it." 

The  rhetorical  flourish  of  the  King's  pronouncement 
against  the  Pope  withers  before  the  tremendous  appeal 
of  the  Pope  to  his  divinely  delegated  power  to  judge 
the  King.  Gregory's  procedure  was  little  less  revolu- 
tionary tlian  that  of  the  King,  but  the  claim  to  depose 
might  appear  as  only  a  concomitant  to  the  power 
already  wielded  by  Popes  in  bestowing  crowns,  while 
for  Gregory  it  had  by  this  time  become  the  coping- 
stone  in  the  fabric  of  those  relations  V>ctween  Church 
and  State  which  he  and  his  party  were  building  up. 

Gregory's  position   was   not    devoid  of    dilliculties. 

Numerous  protests  were  raised  against  this  assertion 

of  papal  power.     But  events  concurred  to 

Gregory's     j^g^ify  Gregory's  bold  action.-    At  the  be- 
allies  n     J 

ginning   of    liis    pontificate   tlie    Normans 

were  quarrelling  among  tliemselves  ;  but  in  Tuscany 
the  Countess  Matilda  had  just  become  complete  mis- 
tress  of    tlie   great    inheritance   which   in- 
Countess      ^^^^^^^^^  ^  ^  .^  ^f  Central  Italy.     She 

was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  Papacy, 
and  secured  North  Italy  by  a  revival  of  tlie  Patarine 
party  against  the  Italian  bishops  who  had  repudiated 
Gregory  at  Piacenza. 

Put  Gregory's  most  effective  allies  were  Henry's 
rebellious  sul)jects.  The  Saxons  broke  out  again  into 
rebellion  in  the  north,  wliile  the  nobles  of  Soutlicrn 
Germany   witli   the  concurrence  of  the  Pope   met   at 


GREGORY   VII    AND   LAY    INVESTITURE     29 

Tribur,  near  Mainz,  in  October,  1076.  Henry  was 
forced  to  accept  the  most  abject  terms.  He  Rebellious 
was  to  submit  to  the  Pope,  and  tKe  nobles  German 
further  agreed  among  themselves  that  the  nobles. 
Pope  should  be  invited  to  pronounce  the  decisive 
judgment  at  a  diet  to  be  held  at  Augsburg  a  year 
later.  If  by  that  time  Henry  had  not  obtained  the 
papal  absolution,  the  kingdom  would  be  considered 
forfeit,  and  they  would  proceed  to  the  election  of  a 
new  King  without  waiting  for  permission  of  the  Pope. 
The  nobles  were  hampered  by  the  rivalry  of  those 
who  hoped  each  to  be  Henry's  successor,  and  they  did 
not  wish  to  found  the  election  of  the  new  King  on  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  papal  power  of  deposition. 
They  acted,  therefore,  as  if  so  far,  apart  from  the  ex- 
communication, the  papal  sentence  of  deposition  had 
been  only  provisional. 

Henry  saw  that  to  be  reinstated  by  the  Pope  in  an 
assembly  of  his  rebellious  subjects  would  be  even  more 
damaging  for  his  prestige  than  the  original 
deposition,  and,  knowing  nothing  of  the  "^|^^y^ 
agreement  of  the  nobles  for  a  new  election, 
he  determined  to  go  and  get  his  absolution  from  the 
Pope  at  Kome.  He  treated  the  points  in  dispute 
between  himself  and  his  opponents  as  practically 
settled  by  his  promise  of  submission,  whereas  the  Pope 
desired  to  pose  as  arbiter  between  the  contending 
parties  in  Germany  ;  while  the  nobles  aimed  at  elect- 
ing a  new  King.  Quite  unconsciously  Henry  was 
forcing  the  hands  of  both  parties  of  his  opponents, 
whose  obvious  interests  were  in  favour  of  delay.  It  was 
necessary  that  he  should  drink  the  cup  of  humiliation 
to  the  dregs ;   but  the  astute  King  preferred  that  it 


30  THE   CHURCH    AND    THE   EMPIRE 

should  be  at  liis  own  time  and  place — at  once  and  in 
Italy,  instead  of  a  year  hence  in  Germany. 

Henry  carried  out  his  desii^'n,  even  thouf'h  it  was  in 
the  middle  of  winter :   and  neg^lectincr  the  welcome  of 

o  o 

the   imperialists  of    North  Italy,   he   ulti- 
C3.110SS&  " 

mately  tracked  the  Pope  to  the   Countess 

Matilda's  fortress  of  Canossa,  in  the  Apennines,  above 
Modena.  But  Gregory  would  listen  to  no  mediation, 
and  demanded  absolute  submission  to  his  judgment. 
So  Henry  again  took  the  method  of  procedure  into  his 
own  hands  and  appeared  at  intervals  during  three 
successive  days  before  the  castle  in  the  garb  of  a  peni- 
tent, barefooted  and  clad  in  a  coarse  woollen  shirt.  The 
picturesque  account  of  this  world-famous  scene,  which 
we  owe  to  Lambert  of  Hersfeld,  must  be  regarded  as 
the  monastic  version  current  among  the  papal  parti- 
sans. Gregory  himself,  who  was  scarcely  likely  to 
minimise  his  own  triumph,  in  his  letter  to  the  German 
nobles  says  nothing  of  these  details.  He  only  relates 
that  even  his  own  followers  exclaimed  that  "  tyrannical 
ferocity "  rather  than  "  apostolic  severity "  was  the 
characteristic  of  his  act. 

Thus  Henry  forced  the  hand  of  the  Pope,  who  as  a 

priest  could   not   refuse   his   absolution    to  one    who 

showed   himself    ready   to   submit   to   tlie 

^^^"  °  severest  possible  penance  for  his  sins.  The 
Canossa.  ^  r^ 

only  course  open  to  Gregory  was  to  accept 

the  situation  on  which  he  had  lost  the  hold,  and  to  try 
to  get  some  political  concessions  in  the  negotiations 
which  must  follow.  The  terms  did  not  difier  much 
from  those  arranged  at  Tribur  :  Henry  should  accept 
the  decision  of  the  diet  of  tlie  German  nobles,  pre- 
sided over  b^  the  Pope,  as  to  his  continued  right  to  the 


GREGORY    VII   AND    LAY    INVESTITURK     ^-i 


crown,  wliile  if  tlie  judgment  was  favourable,  he  should 
implicitly  obey  the  Pope  for  the  future  in  all  that 
concerned  the  Church.  Uut,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
papal  excommunication  and  absolute  sentence  of 
deposition  were  removed,  and  the  whole  excuse  for 
continued  rebellion  was  thus  v/ithdrawn  from  his 
German  opponents.  Henry  had  undoubtedly  been 
humiliated  and  had  ackno\vIecIgedjlie  papal  arbitration 
inlxermany  :  but  modern  feelings  probably  exaggerate 
the"  liumiliatioiiof  the^  penitential  system,  and  Henry 
h'acl  at  least  divided  his  enemies.  The  Pope  had 
undertaken  to  see  fair  play  between  Henry  and  his 
German  subjects :  the  German  nobles  had  based  their 
action  on  Henry's  past  conduct,  for  which  he  had  now 
done  penance.  Henry  had  obtained  an  acknowledg- 
ment from  the  Pope  that  his  right  to  the  kingship 
was  at  any  rate  an  open  question. 

The  German  nobles  had  been  betrayed  by  the  Pope, 
but  they  could  not  afford  to  quarrel  with  him.  They 
had  been  outwitted  by  Henry,  and  against  Election  of 
him  they  proceeded  as  having  violated  the  an  anti- 
Agreement  of  Tribur.  A  Diet  met  at  ^^"2"- 
Forchheim,  in  Franconia,  in  March,  1077.  It  was 
chiefly  composed  of  lay  nobles,  but  papal  legates  were 
present,  whom  Gregory  instructed  to  work  for  a  post- 
ponement until  he  himself  could  come.  But  the 
nobles  were  determined,  and  Henry's  brother-in-law, 
Duke  Eudolf  of  Suabia,  w^as  chosen  King.  Gregory, 
however,  did  not  intend  to  have  his  hand  forced  again, 
and  for  three  years  (1077-80)  he  refused  to  acknow- 
ledge Rudolf  and  tried  to  pose  as  arbiter  between 
him  and  Henry.  Five  times  Rudolf's  supporters  wrote 
remonstrating    indignantly    against    this    neutrality, 


J 


32  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMIMRE 

Gregory  excused  liimself  on  the  ground  that  his  legates 
had  been  deceived  and  had  acted  under  compulsion  in 
acquiescing  in  the  action  of  the  diet  at  E\)rc]dieim. 
He  had  good  reasons  for  his  delay.  He  was  deter- 
mined to  secure  recognition  of  tlie  riglit  which  he 
claimed  for  the  Papacy  as  the  real  determining  force 
in  the  dispute,  an  act  which  the  nobles  had  deliberately 
prevented.  ^Moreover,  he  was  a  little  afraid  of  a  trial 
of  strength  with  Henry  at  the  moment.  For  while 
Henry's  promptness  had  caused  the  Pope  to  break 
faith  with  his  allies,  Gregory's  severity  had  gathered 
round  Henry  a  party  which  made  the  King  more 
powerful  than  he  yet  had  been.  Thus  in  Lombardy 
the  Countess  Matilda  was  faced  by  a  revived 
imperialist  party  which  seriously  threatened  her 
dominions,  while  in  Germany  the  clergy,  the  lesser 
nobles  and  the  cities  rallied  round  the  Kin^r. 

So  long,  then,  as  the  contest  seemed  doubtful 
Gregory  withheld  his  decision.  At  length,  in  1080, 
Greg-ory  when,  despite  two  victories,  Eudolf  w^as 
accepts  gaining  no  advantage,  Gregory  felt  that 
^''"-  further  delay  might  make  Henry  too  strong 

to  Ije  affected  by  the  papal  judgment.  Accordingly,  at  the 
usual  Lenten  Synod  he  renewed  the  excommunication 
and  deposition  of  Henry,  recognised  Paidolf  as  King  of 
Germany,  and  even  prophesied  for  the  excommuni- 
cated monarch  a  speedy  death.  One  papal  partisan 
afterwards  explained  this  as  referring  to  Henry's 
spiritual  deatli !  Gregory  is  further  said  to  have  sent 
a  crown  to  Eudolf,  bearing  the  legend  "  Petra  dedit 
Petro,  Petrus  diadema  Paulolpho,"  but  the  story  is 
doubtful.  The  answer  of  Henry's  party  was  given  in 
successive  synods  of  German  or  Italian  bishops,  wlio 


GREGORY   VII   AND   LAY   INVESTITURE      :^:^ 

declared  Gregory  deposed,  and  elected  as  liis  substitute 
Henry's  Cliancellor,  Guibert,  Archbishop  of  Eavenna, 
who  took  the  title  of  Clement  III. 

Gregory's  decisive  move  was  a  failure.  There  were 
now  two  Kings  and  two  Popes,  and  all  hope  of  a 
peaceful  settlement  was  gone.  None  of  the  Death 
nations  of  Europe  responded  to  Gregory's  of  anti- 
appeal.  Piobert  Guiscard,  the  Norman  King, 
leader,  was  busy  with  his  designs  on  the  Eastern 
Empire.  Gregory's  only  chance  was  a  victory  in  Ger- 
many and  the  fulfilment  of  his  rash  prophecy.  In 
October,  1080,  Henry  was  defeated  in  the  heart  of 
Saxony  on  the  Elster,  but  it  was  Gregory's  accepted 
King,  Ptudolf,  who  was  killed.  One  chronicler  reports 
Itudolf  as  acknowledging  in  his  dying  moments  the 
iniquity  of  his  conduct.  Saxony  remained  in  revolt ; 
but  until  a  new  King  could  be  agreed  upon  Henry  was 
practically  safe  and  could  turn  to  deal  with  the  situa- 
tion in  Italy.  There  could  be  no  thought  of  peace. 
Gregory's  supporters  were  upheld  by  the  enthusiasm 
of  fanaticism,  while  by  acts  and  words  he  had  driven 
his  enemies  to  exasperation,  and  what  had  begun  as  a 
war  of  principles  had  now  sunk  to  a  personal  struggle 
between  Henry  and  Hildebrand. 

The  renewal  of   the   sentence  against  Henry  had 
caused   a   reaction   in  his   favour  in  Northern  Italy. 
Soon   after    the    episode   of    Canossa,   the    Death 
Countess    Matilda,    having    no    heir,    had    of 
bequeathed  her  entire   possessions  to    the    Gregory. 
Eoman  see  and  become  a  papal  vassal  for  the  term 
of  her  own  life.     But  most  of  the  Tuscan  cities  de- 
clared for  Henry  and  thus  entirely  neutralised  her 
power.      Eobert    Guiscard    was    not   to   be   tempted 

D 


34  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 


back   from   his    projects    against    the    Eastern    Em- 
pire, even  if  it  be  true  that  Gregory  offered  him  the 
Empire  of  tlie  West.     Tlius  Henry  entered  Italy  un- 
hindered early  in  1081,  and  even  the  news  that  Ids 
opponents  had   found   a   successor  to   Kudolf  in    the 
person   of  Herman  of  Luxemburg    did  not  stop   his 
march.     The  siege  of  Rome  lasted  for  nearly  three 
years   (1081-4),  but  ultimately  he   obtained   posses- 
sion of  all  the  city  except  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo. 
Henry's  Pope,  Clement  III,  was  consecrated,  and  on 
Easter  Day  Henry,  together  with  his  wife,  at  length 
obtained  tlie  imperial  crown.     But  meanwhile  he  had 
made  a  fatal  move.     The  Eastern  Emperor  Alexius 
persuaded  him  to  make  mischief  in  Apulia.     Henry 
fell  into  the  trap.     Iiobert   Guiscard  rushed  back  to 
defend  his  own   territories,   and   now   determined   to 
carry  out  his  obligations  as  a  papal  vassal.     Henry 
was  taken    unawares    and   had    to   retire  before   the 
Normans,  who  forced  their  way  into  Rome  and  cruelly 
sacked  and  burnt  it.     Gregory  was  rescued,  but  life 
for  him  in  Rome  was  no  longer  possible.    The  Romans 
had  betrayed  him  to  Henry,  and  now  his  allies  liad 
destroyed  the  city.     He  retired  with  the  Normans  to 
Salerno,  where,   a  year  later,  he  died  (May,   1085), 
bitterly  attributing  his  failure  to  his  love  of  righteous- 
ness and  hatred  of  iniquity. 

]>ut  we  cannot  ratify  Gregory's  own  judgment  on 
the  reasons  for  his  failure.     Rather  the  blame  is  to  be 
laid  upon  liis  lack  of  statesmanship.     His 
Reasons       effl)tl5m  an dJij^JaiiaJj£ism  jworkgd  together 
failure  ^°  make  him  believe  that  the  supremacy  of 

the   spiritual__power    which__he    aimed   at 
miglit  be  attadned  by  very  secular  devices.     In  action 


GREGORY   VII   AND   LAY   INVP:STITURK     35 


\^J^ 


he  showed  himself  a  pure  opportunist,  approving^  _at 
one  time  whatlie  condemned  at  another.  And  yet  he 
had  so  little  of  an  eye  for  the  line  whicli  separates  the 
practicable  from  the  ideal  that  at  Canossa  he  humiliated 
Henry  beyond  all  hope  of  reconciliation,  and  he  died 
in  exile  because  he  would  not  listen  to  any  compromise 
which  might  be  an  acknowledgment  that  he  had  exag- 
gerated his  own  claims.  Thus,  despite  the  undoubted 
purity  of  his  life  and  the  ultimate  loftiness  ofhis  ideais, 
he  is  to  be  regarded  rather  as  a  man  of  immense  force 
oTcharacter  than  ai5~ar great  ecclesiasticaTstatesman, 
rather  as  the  stirrer-up  of  divine  discontent  than~as"a 
creative  mind  wdiich  gives  a  new  turn  to  the  desires 
and  impulses  of  the  human  race. 

All  this  is  borne  out  by  his  dealings  outside  Germany 
and  Italy.  He  conducted  a  very  extensive  correspond- 
ence with  princes  as  well  as  ecclesiastics  jjjg 
all  over  Europe.  Indeed  this,  as  much  as  activity  in 
the  despatch  of  legates  and  the  annual  Europe, 
attendance  of  bishops  at  the  Lenten  Synod,  w^as  one 
of  the  means  by  which  the  Papacy  strove  to  make 
itself  the  central  power  of  Christendom.  These  letters 
deal  with  all  kinds  of  subjects  and  bear  ample  witness 
to  his  personal  piety  and  high  moral  aims.  But 
alongside  of  these  come  arrogant  assertions  of  pap^l 
authority.  He  claims  as  fiefs  of  St.  Peter  on  various 
grounds  Hungary,  Spain,  Denmark,  Corsica,  Sardinia ; 
he  gives  the  title  of  King  to  tlie  Duke  of  Dalmatia ; 
he  even  offers  to  princes  who  belong  to  the  Eastern 
Church  a  better  title  to  their  possessions  as  held  from 
St.  Peter. 

Gregory's  great  contest  with  the  Empire  has  been 
described  without  interruption,  as  if  it  were  the  only 


36  THE   CHURCH    AND   THE  EMPHU-. 


struggle  of  his  time,  instead  of  being  merely  the  most 

important  episode  in  a  very  busy  life.     And  if  we  ask 

in  conclusion  why  it  was  fought  out  in  the 

IS  po  icy     ^jj^^Q^.^g^i  dominions  rather  than  elsewhere, 
in  r  ranee.  ^ 

the  answer  will  be  instructive  of  his  char- 
acter and  methods  of  action.  At  the  beginning  of  his 
pontificate  his  harshest  phrases  were  directed  against 
Philip  I  of  France,  who  added  to  the  crimes  of  lay 
investiture  and  shameless  simony  a  scandalous  personal 
immorality.  Ultimately  Gregory  threatened  him  with 
excommunication  and  deposition.  But  he  never 
passed  beyond  threats.  The  reason  is  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  Gregory  was  soon  in  pursuit  of  larger 
game.  The  French  King  only  shared  with  his  great 
nobles  the  investiture  ol'  tlie  lushops  in  the  kingdom. 
Muret)\  cr,  the  French  Ijishops  were  not  as  a  body  great 
secular  potentates  like  the  German  bishops.  The 
opposition  to  reform  in  France  was  passive,  not  active. 
Crown,  nol  »les,  and  Church  stood  together  in  opposition : 
there  was  no  papal  party.  Not  enough  was  to  be 
gained  by  a  victory,  and  there  was  great  chance  of  a 
defeat.  The  result  was  that  Philii)  continued  his 
simoniacal  transactions  and  never  entirely  gave  up 
investiture,  wliile  Gregory  allowed  himself  to  be 
satisfied  with  occasional  promises  of  better  things. 
His  dealings  with  the  French  bisliops  are  equally 
inconclusive.  For  six  years  (107G-82)  two  of  the 
papal  legates  divided  France  between  tliem,  practi- 
cally superseded  the  local  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and 
acted  with  the  utmost  severity  against  all,  ecclesiastics 
or  laymen,  who  practised  the  methods  now  under  con- 
demnation. Great  opposition  was  aroused  and  tlie 
legates  went  in  peril  of  their  lives.     They  were  only 


GREGORY  VII  AND   LAY   INVESTITURE     37 

carrying  out  strenuously  the  principles  laid  down  under 
Gregory's  guidance  in  many  acts  of  synods  and  in- 
culcated by  Gregory  in  numberless  private  letters. 
And  yet  Gregory  is  found  fre(|uently  undoing  their 
acts,  restoring  bishops  whom  they  have  deposed,  ac- 
cepting excuses  or  explanations  which  cannot  possibly 
have  deceived  him. 

His  policy  towards  England  affords  another  in- 
structive contrast.  Both  in  Normandy  and  in 
England  William  the  Conqueror  practised 
investiture  of  his  bishops  and  abbots  and  £np-iand 
held  his  ecclesiastics  in  an  iron  grip.  He 
refused  the  papal  demand  for  homage  for  his  English 
kingdom  and  he  would  allow  no  papal  interference  with 
his  clergy  without  the  King's  permission.  Archbishop 
Lanfranc  also  only  consented  to  accept  the  decree 
against  married  clergy  with  a  serious  limitation — while 
married  canons  were  to  dismiss  their  wives  at  once, 
parish  priests  already  married  were  not  interfered 
with ;  but  marriage  was  forbidden  to  clergy  in  the 
future,  and  bishops  were  warned  not  to  ordain  married 
men.  But  William's  expedition  to  England  had  been 
undertaken  with  the  approval  of  Hildebrand,  he  did 
not  practise  simony,  and  he  acknowledged  the  principle 
of  a  celibate  clergy,  while  he  promised  the  payment  of 
the  tribute  of  Peter's  Pence  from  England.  Moreover, 
William  w^as  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with  :  he  was  a 
valuable  friend  and  would  certainly  be  a  dangerous 
enemy.  Consequently  no  question  of  the  lawfulness 
of  investiture  was  mooted  during  his  lifetime.  Gregory 
contented  himself  with  threats  against  Lanfranc.  But 
the  English  Archbishop  owed  a  grudge  to  Gregory,  who 
had   treated   with   a   culpable    indulgence    the   great 


38  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

heresiarch  Berengar  after  Laiifraiic  had  vanquished 
him  and  convicted  him  of  heresy ;  and  Lan franc  knew 
tliat  under  William's  sheltering  favour  he  was  safe 
from  the  papal  ban. 

Thus,  while  in  France  Gregory  would  have  to  face  an 
united  people,  in  England  he  slirank  before  the  person- 
ality of  the  King.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
found  a  blameworthy  King  and  a  discontented  people. 
All  the  elements  were  present  for  the  successful  inter- 
ference of  an  external  power.  Moreover,  the  peculiar 
relations  in  which  this  external  power — the  Papacy 
— stood  towards  the  German  King,  the  prospective 
Emperor,  gave  every  excuse,  if  any  were  needed,  for 
such  interference.  Finally  and  most  especially,  since 
these  imperial  prospects  made  the  German  King  the 
first  among  the  monarchs  of  Western  Europe,  a  victory 
over  him  would  carry  a  prestige  which  lesser  potentates 
would  be  bound  to  acknowledge. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE    END    OF    THE    QUARREL 

IT  remained  to  be  seen  whether  Gregory's  failure 
implied  Henry's  success.  The  Emperor  returned 
to  Germany,  where  a  strong  desire  for  peace 
had  grown  up  and  was  taking  practical  ^  "^on^en- 
shape.  In  some  dioceses  the  Truce  of  God 
was  proclaimed,  which,  under  heavy  ecclesiastical 
penalties,  forbado^  hostilities  during  certain  days  ot 
the  week  and  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  Henry 
took  up  this  idea,  which  as  yet  was  too  partial  to 
be  effective,  and  in  1085,  in  a  Synod  at  Mainz  under 
his  presidency,  it  was  proclaimed  for  the  whole  king- 
dom. The  unfortunate  anti-King  Herman  found 
himself  deserted,  and  died,  a  fugitive,  in  1088.  Henry's 
moderation  concluded  what  the  desire  for  peace  had 
begun,  and  even  Saxony  seemed  to  be  reconciled  to 
his  rule. 

But  his  triumph  was  short-lived.    Between  him  and 
any  lasting  peace  stood  the  anti-Pope  Clement  III ; 
for  all  who  had   received  consecration  at 
Clement's  hands  were  bound  at  all  hazards    ^^^33  qq^ 
to  maintain  the  lawfulness  of  his  election. 
Moreover,  Clement's  opponent  now  was  a  man  to  be 
reckoned  with.   The  first  choice  of  the  Gregorian  party, 
Desiderius,   Abbot   of   Monte  Cassino,  could   not  be 
consecrated  for  a  year   after   his   election,  and  four 

39 


40  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

111011  ths  later  he  was  dead  (September,  1087).  The 
partiyans  of  Clement  were  too  strong  in  Rome,  and 
the  next  election  was  carried  out  with  total  disregard 
of  the  decree  of  Nicholas  II.  It  took  place  at  Terra- 
cina  in  ]\Iarch,  1088,  and  was  made  by  a  large  number 
of  clergy  in  addition  to  the  Cardinals.  The  choice 
fell  upon  Otto,  Bishop  of  Ostia,  a  Frenchman  of  noble 
family  and  a  monk  of  Cluny ;  but  it  was  some  years 
before  Urban  II  could  regard  Iiome  as  his  head- 
quarters. 

In  some  ways  Urban  was  more  uncompromising 
than  his  master  Gregory.  He  upheld  the  papal 
His  policy  legates  in  their  strict  treatment  of  the 
against  French  bishops  ;  he  actually  launched 
Henry.  against  Philip  I  of  France  the  excommuni- 
cation which  Gregory  had  only  threatened;  to  the 
prohibition  of  lay  investiture  he  added  an  explicit 
^command  tliat  l>ishops  and  clergy  should  Jiot_  do 
homage  to  any  layman.  But  while  he  showed  him- 
self thus  in  thorough  sympathy  with  his  predecessor, 
in  liis  power  of  dealing  with  circumstances  he  proved 
himself  by  far  the  superior.  A  succession  of  clever 
if  thoroughly  unscrupulous  measures  restored  the 
fortunes  of  the  papal  party.  Henry  had  succeeded 
for  the  moment  in  dividing  and  isolating  his  enemies. 
Urban  set  himself  to  unite  the  chief  opponents  of 
Henry  on  both  sides  of  tlie  Alps.  He  planned  a 
marriage  between  the  middle-aged  widow,  tlie  Countess 
Matilda  of  Tuscany,  and  the  eigliteen-year-old  son  of 
AVelf,  Duke  of  Bavaria  (1089).  jMatilda  was  ready  to 
sacrifice  herself  fur  the  good  of  the  cause.  The  Welfs, 
ignorant  of  Matilda's  gift  of  her  lands  to  the  Papacy, 
eagerly  accepted  the  bait;  but  soon  discovering  that 


THK   END   OF  THE   QUARREL  4t 

they  were  being  used  as  tools,  they  ceased  to  give  any 
help,  and  in  fact  became  reconciled  to  the  Emperor. 
But  meanwhile  the  Tope  had  discovered  other  more 
deadly  weapons  with  which  to  wound  the  Emperor. 
The  deaths  of  the  anti-Kings  had  left  the  papal  party 
without  a  leader  in  Germany.  Events  had  shown  the 
firm  hold  of  the  hereditary  claim  and  the  Salian  House 
upon  a  large  portion  of  the  Empire.  The  only  accept- 
able leader  would  be  a  member  of  Henry's  own  house. 
Henry's  actions  played  into  their  hands.  His  eldest 
son,  Conrad,  had  been  crowned  at  Aachen  in  1087 
and  sent  into  Italy  to  act  as  his  father's  representative. 
He  is  described  as  a  young  man  of  studious  and  dreamy 
character,  unpractical  and  easily  influenced.  In  1087 
Henry  lost  his  faibliful  wife  Bertha,  and  a  year  later 
he  married  a  Eussian  Princess,  Praxedis,  who  was  the 
widow  of  the  Count  of  the  Northern  March.  The 
marriage  was  unhappy ;  each  accused  the  other  of 
misconduct ;  and  Henry,  suspecting  the  relations  of 
Conrad  with  his  stepmother,  put  them  both  in  prison. 
Perhaps  Conrad  had  already  been  worked  upon  by  the 
papal  party.  He  escaped,  took  refuge  with  the  Countess 
Matilda,  and  was  crowned  King  of  Italy  (1093).  But 
he  was  only  the  tool  of  others.  Far  more  immediately 
dangerous  was  the  escape  of  Praxedis  (1094),  who  laid 
before  the  Pope  the  foulest  cliarges  against  Henry. 
To  her  lasting  shame  the  Countess  Matilda  was  the 
chief  agent  in  these  family  revolts.  The  effect  on 
Henry's  position  in  Italy  was  disastrous.  Pope  Urban 
finally  recovered  Eome,  and  Conrad,  having  won  the 
cities  of  Lombardy,  took  an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Papacy 
in  return  for  a  promise  of  the  Empire. 

And  just  as  if  the  success  of  these  diabolical  schemes 


42  THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

was  not  a  sufficient  triumph,  furtune  at  this  moment 
gave  the  Pope  a  chance  of  superseding  the  Emperor 
in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  by  inaugurating  a  great 
popular  movement  of  which  under  dift'erent  circum- 
stances the  Emperor  would  have  been  the  natural 
leader.  In  1085  the  Eastern  Emperor  Alexius  had 
appealed  to  Henry  against  the  Normans,  but  now 
Henry  was  a  negligible  quantity — excommunicated, 
Bee-inning;  crowned  Emperor  by  an  anti-pope,  not  likely 
of  the  to  undertake  a  distant  expedition.    In  1095, 

Crusades,  therefore,  when  Alexius  needed  aid  against 
the  Seljuk  Turks,  it  was  to  the  Pope  that  he  sent  his 
envoys,  who  appeared  at  the  Synod  of  Piacenza.  Those 
late  converts  to  Mohammedanism  had  established  their 
kingdom  of  Roum  over  the  greater  part  of  Asia  Minor 
with  its  capital  at  the  venerable  city  of  Nicica,  and  had 
captured  Jerusalem,  which  thus  passed  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  tolerant  Caliphs  of  Cairo  into  those  of  the  most 
fanatical  section  of  Mohammedans.  Pilgrims  return- 
ing from  Jerusalem  spread  through  Europe  tales  of  the 
harsli  treatment  to  which  they  were  subjected.  Then 
in  1087  a  new  tribe  of  Saracens,  the  Almoravides, 
crossed  from  Africa  to  Spain  and  inflicted  a  severe 
defeat  upon  a  Christian  army.  It  seemed  almost  as 
if  a  combined  movement  of  the  Mohammedan  world 
had  begun  for  the  final  extinction  of  Christendom.  If 
Gregory  liad  been  free  he  would  liave  wished  to 
promote  tlie  reunion  of  the  Churelies  l)y  sending  lielp 
to  tlie  Eastern  Empire  ;  so  that  it  was  no  novel  idea 
that  was  suggested  to  the  assembled  magnates  at 
Piacenza.  Urban  11  no  doubt  saw  the  opportunity 
ofi'ered  for  asserting  the  leadership  of  tlie  western 
world.     Alexius'  envoys  were  heard  with  sympathy  ; 


THE   END   OF   THE   QUARREL  43 


but  Urban  felt  the  need  of  appeal  to  a  larger  public, 
and  summoned  a  great  Council  to  Clermont-Ferrand 
in  Auvergne,  where  he  would  be  among  his 
own  countrymen.  Here  in  November,  1095,  ciermont. 
he  delivered  before  a  vast  concourse  of 
persons  assembled  in  the  open  air  an  impassioned 
appeal  on  behalf  of  the  suffering  Christians  of  the 
east.  The  result  answered  his  utmost  expectation, 
and  the  cry  of  the  assembled  multitude,  "  God 
wills  it,"  was  the  ratification  of  the  papal  leader- 
ship. All  methods  were  taken  to  stir  the  feelings  of 
the  west.  The  vast  ecclesiastical  organisation  was 
used  in  order  to  transmit  invitations  to  possible 
crusaders ;  the  penitential  system  of  the  Church  was 
brought  to  bear  on  those  already  conscious  of  a  sinful 
life;  popular  preachers,  such  as  Peter  the  Hermit, 
were  employed  to  rouse  the  interest  of  the  masses ; 
the  Pope  himself  spent  the  succeeding  months  in  a 
tour  through  Southern  France ;  and  arrangements  were 
made  for  the  start  of  the  first  expedition  from  the 
Italian  ports  at  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1096,  under 
the  leadership  of  a  legate  appointed  by  the  Pope. 

It  is  not  possible  here  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
Crusaders.     Several  unauthorised  expeditions,  which 
bore   witness  to    the   popular   enthusiasm, 
made   their  way   through    Southern    Ger-    ^  ^   j^ 
many;    but  the   disorderly  crowds    which 
composed  them  perished  either  at  the  hands  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  whom  they  treated 
as   schismatics,  or  among  the   Turks  in  Asia   Minor. 
The  real  expedition  passed  partly  by  land,  partly  by 
sea  from  the  Italian  ports  to- Constantinople,  whence 
the   Crusaders    set   out   across   Asia    Minor.      Niciea 


44  THK  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 


was  taken  in  June,  1097;  the  Sultan  of  Eouni  was 
overthrown  in  battle  at  Dorylseum  in  July ;  Antioch 
detained  the  Crusaders  from  October,  1 097,  to  June, 
1098;  and  it  was  only  in  July,  1099,  that  after  a  siege 
of  forty  days  Jerusalem  was  captured  from  the  Saracens 
of  Egypt,  who  liad  recently  recovered  it  from  the  Turks. 
But  wliatever  may  have  been  Urljan's  success  in  his 
own  land  of  France  and  elsewhere,  in  Germany,  at 
Its  effect  ^^^y  J^^^tg,  his_efforts  to  tiiiu.  llL£L_current 
on  the  against  the  Emperor  had  entirely    failed, 

quarrel.  Of^German  lands  Lorraine  alone  sent 
warriors  to  the  First  Crusade.  The  movement  did 
not  penetrate  to  the  east  of  the  Eliine,  and  the 
number  of  Germans  who  helped  to  swell  the  multi- 
tude of  crusaders  who  marched  through  Southern 
Germany  was  inappreciable.  At  tlie  same  time  the 
settlement  of  the  questions  at  issue  between  Papacy 
and  Empire  were  indefinitely  postponed ;  for  it  would 
have  been  treason  to  the  crusading  cause  to  press  the 
papal  claims  against  Henry  at  this  moment.  It  was 
Henry's  turn  to  exj)erience  some  good  fortune.  The 
proclamation  of  the  Truce  of  God  under  his  auspices, 
the  manifest  interest  of  the  German  ecclesiastics,  and 
his  own  policy  of  favouring  the  rising  cities  comV>ined 
to  strengthen  his  position.  Tlius  in  1098  he  was  able 
to  obtain  from  the  German  nobles  the  deposition  of 
his  rebellious  son  Conrad  and  the  election  of  liis 
younger  son  Henry  as  King,  who  was  made  to  promise 
tliat  during  his  father's  lifetime  he  would  not  act 
politically  against  him.  Tlien  in  1099  Pope  Urban 
died,  and  was  followed  in  1100  by  tlie  anti-Pope 
Clement  HI,  and  in  1101  by  Conrad.  All  the  personal 
causes  of    disunion   were   being   removed.     Moreover, 


THE    END    OF   THE   QUARREL  45 

the  success  of  the  crusading  policy  made  it  impossible 
that  Henry  or  Germany  should  stand  apart  from  it 
altogether.  Although  Jerusalem  was  the  capital  of  a 
Christian  kingdom  and  other  principalities  centred 
round  Tripoli,  Antioch,  and  the  more  distant  Edessa, 
powerful  Moliammedan  Princes  lay  close  beside  them 
at  Damascus,  Aleppo,  and  Mossul,  as  well  as  to  the 
south  in  Egypt.  There  was  need  of  constant  rein- 
forcement, for  the  fighting  was  continual.  Under 
these  inducements  Germany  began  to  contribute 
crusaders  to  the  cause.  Duke  Welf  of  Bavaria  led 
an  army  eastw^ards  in  1101.  In  1103  Henry's  efforts 
in  favour  of  peace-culminated  in  the  proclamation  at 
the  Diet  of  Mainz  of  the  first  imperial  land  peace 
sw^orn  between  King  and  nobles,  which  bound  the 
parties  to  it  for  four  years  to  maintain  the  peace 
towards  all  communities  in  the  land.  This  was  in- 
tended as  a  preliminary  to  Henry's  participation  in  an 
expedition  to  the  east. 

But  this  was  the  very  last  thing  desired  by  Henry's 
enemies,  and  there  began  a  most  unscrupulous  attack 
which    ended   only  with  his  death.     Pope 

Urban's  successor,  Pascal  II,  strengthened    „         „, 

Henry  IV. 

by  the  death  of  the  anti-Pope  Clement  and 
the  failure  of  his  party  to  maintain  a  successor,  re- 
newed the  excommunication  against  Henry,  and  did 
everything  deliberately  to  stir  up  strife  in  Germany. 
The  nobles  were  angry  at  the  cessation  of  private 
war  and  at  the  favour  shown  by  Henry  to  the  towns. 
But  again  they  lacked  a  leader,  and  with  diabolical 
craft  the  papal  party  worked  upon  the  young  King 
Henry  by  threatening  to  set  up  against  him  an  anti- 
King  who  should  rob  him  of  the  eventual  succession 


46  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


The  result  was  that  the  young  King  broke  his  solemn 
promise,  set  up  tlie  standard  of  revolt,  and  was  joined 
by  nobles,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  lay,  and  by  the 
restless  Saxon  rebels.  I'y  a  trick  he  got  his  father 
into  his  power  and  forced  him  formally  to  abdicate, 
while  he  himself  was  crowned  King  by  the  papal 
legate.  But  the  Emperor  escaped,  and  with  marvellous 
energy  gathered  adherents ;  but  a  renewal  of  the 
struggle  was  staved  off  by  his  own  death  after  a  few 
days'  illness  on  August  6th,  1106. 

Henry  never  shook  himself  free  from  the  difficulties 
of  his  own  early  misdeeds ;  but  the  rights  upon  which 
Tj.  he  took  his  stand  \\^re  those  exercised  by 

justifica-  his  predecessors.  The  uncompromising  atti- 
tion.  tude  'onns^pponents  and  their  humiliation 

of  liim  TT>flrlftJij^^fl_TvFft-]nTig  stri|cro'le  between  them. 
Henry  was  no  saint ;  but  his  opponents'  tactics  were 
indefensible.  Under  less  adverse  circumstances  he 
might  have  proved  a  successful  ruler.  But  he  was 
the  victim  of  a  party  which  deliberately  subordinated 
means  to  ends  in  pursuit  of  an  ideal  whicli  Henry 
could  scarcely  be  expected  to  understand  or  appreciate. 

The  papal  party  in  its  malice  had  overreaclied  itself 

in  selecting  Henry  V  as  its  champion.     True,  he  had 

destroyed  the  most  stubborn  enemy  of  the 

^^^^  '  Papacy;  but  his  own  interests  caused  him 
to  adopt  his  father's  policy.  His  one  object  was  to 
recover  the  prestige  whicli  the  German  King  had  lost 
in  the  struggles  of  the  last  twenty  years.  He  was 
undisputed  King  in  Germany ;  he  showed  an  un- 
scrupulous and  overbearing  demeanour  wliicli  aroused 
opposition  on  all  sides.  He  was  not  likely  to  be  con- 
tent witli  less  power  than  liis  father  had  demanded 


THE    END    OF   THE   QUARREL  47 

over  the  German  clergy,  and  at  the  first  vacancies  he 
invested  the  new  bishops. 

Henry's  bold  action  was  not  altogether  without 
reason.  For  some  years  there  had  been  growing  up 
within  the  ranks  of  the  advocates  of  reform 
a  moderate  party  which,  while  opposed  to  ^  -^^.^  ^^ 
simony  and  clerical  marriage,  saw  in  the  compro- 
continued  and  close  union  of  Church  and  '"ise  on  in- 
State  an  indispensable  guarantee  of  social 
order.  They  aimed  therefore  at  conserving  the  rights 
of  the  Crown  no  less  than  at  recovering  those  of  the 
Church.  This  party  is  found  especially  among  the 
French  clergy.  One  of  its  chief  spokesmen,  the  Canonist 
Ivo,  Bishop  of  Chartres,  who  had  suffered  much  for 
his  enthusiasm  for  reform,  insists  in  his  correspond- 
ence even  with  the  Pope  himself,  that  the  prohibition 
passed  upon  lay  investiture  is  not  among  the  class  of 
matters  which  have  been  settled  by  a  law  for  ever 
binding,  but  among  those  which  have  been  enjoined 
or  forbidden,  as  the  case  might  be,  for  the  honour  or 
profit  of  the  Church,  and  he  appropriately  bids  the 
papal  legate  beware  lest  the  Eoman  clergy  should 
incur  the  charge  of  taking  tithe  of  mint  and  rue 
while  they  omit  the  weightier  precepts  of  the  law. 
Moreover,  both  he  and  his  friend  Hugh  of  Fleury,  in 
a  treatise  dealing  with  the  "  Eoyal  Power  and  Priestly 
Office,"  maintain  that  the  King  has  the  power,  "  by 
the  instigation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  of  nominating 
bishops,  or  at  least  of  granting  permission  for  their 
election;  and  that,  while  the  royal  investiture,  how- 
ever made  by  word  or  act,  pretends  to  bestow  no 
spiritual  authority,  but  merely  estates  or  other 
results  of  royal  munificence,  it  is  for  the  archbishop 


48  THE  CIIL'RCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


( 


\ 


to  commit    to   a   newly  elected   prelate  the  cure  of 

souls. 

This  distinction,  repugnant  as  it  was  to  the 
extremists,  soon  found  practical  application.  Lan- 
Settle  franc's  successor  in  the  See  of  Canterbury, 

ment  in  Anselm,  was,  like  his  predecessor,  an  Italian, 
England.  transferred  from  Normandy  to  England. 
He  had  to  contend  with  the  typical  King  of  an  unre- 
strained feudalism  in  the  person  of  William  11.  A 
succession  of  quarrels  ended  in  Anselm's  retirement 
to  Italy.  Kecalled  by  Henry  I,  he  took  back  with 
him  the  maxims  of  the  reformers  about  investiture, 
and  refused  to  do  the  required  homage  to  the  new 
Kinc^.  Henry  was  not  an  unreasonable  man,  and  he 
sent  Anselm  to  bring  about  some  arrangement  w^ith 
the  Pope.  How^ever,  it  w^as  not  until  a  rupture  w^as 
innninent  that  Pope  Pascal  was  persuaded  to  acquiesce 
in  an  agreement  on  the  lines  advocated  by  Ivo---©!^ 
Chartres  and  his  party.  By_thisjCon!;iai:dat  (llQ^fjr 
Henry  I  agreed  to  give  up  liis  claim  to  invest  with 
the  ring  and  staff,  while  Archbishop  Anselm  allowed 
that  the  elected  bishop  miglit  do  homage  for  his  lands 
to  the  King. 

At  present  neither  side  in  tlie  Empire  was  sufh- 
ciently  honest  in  its  intentions  to  be  willing  to  accept 
Pascal  II  ^^  reasonable  a  settlement.  ]^)Ut  the  fact 
(1099-  that  the  Pope  had  felt  himself  obliged  to 

I "8).  allow  it  in  one  case  sensibly  weakened  his 

position  and  correspondingly  strengtliened  that  of  the 
German  King.  It  was  typical  of  Pascal's  position  in 
general.  Though  strongly  Gregorian  in  principle,  he 
was  neither  clever  nor  courageous,  and  was  inclined 
to  take  up  a  position  which  he  could  not  maintain. 


THE   END   OF   THE   QUARREL  49 

Intent  on  renewing  the  prohibition  of  lay  investiture 
and  afraid  of  Henry,  Pascal  determined  to  support 
himself  upon  France.  Here,  at  any  rate,  Philip  I  had 
gradually  dropped  the  practice  of  investiture  of 
bishops.  The  papal  censures  of  his  scandalous  pri- 
vate conduct  uttered  by  Gregory  and  Urban  had  had 
no  effect.  Pascal  accepted  professions  of  amendment 
and  acts  of  humiliation,  and  ceased  to  trouble  himself 
further  about  Philip's  private  affairs.  A  Council  of 
French  bishops  was  held  at  Troyes  (1107),  where  the 
decrees  against  lay  investiture  were  renewed.  The 
one  gleam  of  hope-  for  the  future  appeared  in  Pascal's 
deliberate  abstention  from  any  pronouncement  against 
the  King  in  person.  Henry,  occupied  on  the  eastern 
border,  could  not  pay  his  first  visit  to  Italy  until  the 
becfinnincf  of  1111,  and  it  was  not  without  siofuificance 
that  on  the  eve  of  setting  out  he  betrothed  himself  to 
the  daughter  of  Henry  I  of  England.  He  was  more 
fortunate  than  his  father  had  been  in  the  moment  of 
his  visit.  The  Lombard  cities  quarrelling  among 
themselves  were  quickly  forced  to  submission ;  the 
Countess  Matilda,  grown  old  and  tired  of  strife,  sent 
her  envoys  to  do  homage  for  the  imperial  fiefs ;  the 
Normans  had  just  lost  their  Duke.  Pope  Pascal, 
finding  himself  isolated,  did  not  dare  to  meet  by  a 
simple  negative  Henry's  demand  for  the  right  of  inves- 
titure as  w^ell  as  for  his  coronation  as  Emperor. 

By  way  of  escaping  from  his  difficulty  he  sent  to 
the  King  an  astonishing  proposal.  The  King  was  to 
renounce  the  right  of  investiture  and   all 

interference  in  the  elections,  in  return  for       ^^       , 

'       .  proposal. 

which    the    prelates    should    give    up    all 

imperial    lands    and    rights    with    which    they    were 


50  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   EMIGRE 


endowed,  retaining  merely  the  right  to  tithes,  offer- 
ings, and  private  gifts :  tlie  papal  rights  over  tlie 
Patrimony  of  St.  Peter  and  the  Norman  lands  were 
specially  excepted.  Itjias  been  pointed  out  that  th^s 
was  the  policy  which  Count  Cavour  made  famous  as 
''^  free  Church  in  a  free  State."  It  seems  almost 
impossible  that  Pascal  should  have  thought  that  the 
German  Inshops  would  accept  this  solution :  he  may 
have  hoped  that  they  could  be  coerced  into  it.  But 
in  contracting  himself  out  of  the  obligations  to  be 
imposed  on  all  other  ecclesiastical  dignitaries^^  he 
practically  renounced  any  claim  to  set  the  policy^ 
of  the  Church.  Henry  may  have  aimed  at  digging  an 
impassable  ditch  between  the  Pope  and  tlie  German 
bishops.  It  was  an  impossible  agreement;  for  neither 
bishops  nor  lay  nobles  would  wish  to  see  so  large  an 
addition  to  the  King's  resources,  while  Henry  liimself 
could  not  afford  to  surrender  the  right  of  investiture, 
since  it  would  stultify  his  claim  to  a  voice  in  tlie 
election  of  the  Pope. 

The  publication  of  the  agreement  at  Piome  caused 
great  tumults,  Henry  contriving  that  all  the  odium 
should  fall  upon  the  Pope.  Then,  since 
Henry's  Pascal  could  not  fulfil  the  part  of  the  agree- 
ment  which  he  liad  made  on  belialf  of  the 
Church,  Henry  forced  him,  the  successor  of  Gregory, 
to  acquiesce  in  the  exercise  by  the  German  King  of 
the  right  of  investiture  with  ring  and  staff.  Henry 
was  crowned  Emperor,  though  with  very  maimed 
ceremonial,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  Germuny. 

Put  liis  triumph  was  short,  for  he  was  immediately 
threatened  with  danger  from  two  quarters.  On  the 
one  side  the  leaders  of  tlie  Ultramontane  party  were 


THE   END    OF   THE   QUARREL  51 

naturally  most  wrathful  at  this  betrayal  of  their 
cause,  and  Pascal,  threatened  witli  deposition,  placed 
himself  in  their  hands.  At  the  Lenten  pascal's 
Synod  of  1112  he  confirmed  all  the  decrees  with- 
of  his  predecessor  against  lay  investiture,  drawal. 
thus  annulling  his  own  agreement  with  Henry.  But 
he  avoided  issuing  any  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  Henry  in  person.  His  own  legates,  however, 
had  no  such  scruples,  and  in  France  Cardinal  Conon 
took  advantage  of  the  strong  feeling  among  the  clergy 
to  launch  excom-munications  against  the  Emperor  in 
several  ecclesiastical  Councils  during  1114  and  1115. 
Guido,  Archbishop  of  Vienne,  presiding  over  a  Council 
of  Henry's  own  subjects  at  Yienne  in  1112,  had  al- 
ready condemned  their  sovereign  and  forced  Pascal  to 
acquiesce  in  the  resolution. 

Henry's  right  policy  would  no  doubt  have  been  to 
compel  the  Pope  to  observe  the  agreement.     But  it 
was  more  than  three  years  before  he  could    Henry's 
return  to  Italy.    For  revolt  had  broken  out    diffi- 
again  in  Germany.     The  nobles  had  their    culties. 
own  grievances ;  the  Saxons  were  always  ready  to  take 
arms ;   the  Church  was  roused  because  Henry  dealt 
with  ecclesiastical  property  as  if  the  Pope's  original 
proposal    had   been    allowed    to    stand.      The    royal 
bailiffs  acted  in  such  a  manner  with  the  cathedrals 
that  of  a  house  of  prayer  they  made  a  den  of  thieves. 

Henry's  forces  were  w^orsted  in  battle  and  he  had 
recourse  to  his  father's  tactics,  seeking  in  Italy,  by 
personal  dealings  with  the  Pope,  to  recover  the  moral 
prestige  which  he  had  lost  in  Germany.  He  had  a 
pretext  in  the  death  of  the  Countess  Matilda  (1115); 
for  the    Papacy   was  claiming   not  only   her   allodial 


52  THE  CHURCH    AND  THE  EMPIRE 

lands,  wliicli  slie  might  liave  a  right  to  bequeath,  but 
also  her  imperial  fiefs,  which  were  not  liers  to  dispose 
of.  Henry  occu])ied  tlie  dominions  of  Matilda  with- 
out opposition.  His  presence  in  Italy  caused  Pascal 
still  to  refrain  from  personal  condemnation  of  the 
Emperor,  and  a  year  later  a  party  friendly  to  Henry 
opened  the  gates  of  Kome  to  liim.  Pascal  fled  to 
Albano,  and  only  returned  to  Piome  on  Henry's  depar- 
ture, a  dying  man  (January,  1118).  His  -successor, 
Gelasius  IT,  refused  Henry's  advances,  and  the  Emperor 
resorted  to  the  old  and  discredited  policy  of  setting  up 
an  anti-Pope  in  the  person  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Braga,  in  Portugal,  who  took  the  name  of  Gregory  VIII. 
Gelasius  excommunicated  Henry  and  his  Pope  ;  but 
finding  himself  threatened  in  Piome,  fled  to  Burgundy, 
and  died  at  Cluny  a  year  after  his  election  (January, 
1119).  So  far  Henry's  attempts  to  deal  with  the 
Pope  had  failed,  and  the  publication  of  the  new  Pope's 
excommunication  in  Germany  made  the  opposition  so 
strong  that  Henry  found  it  advisable  to  return. 

Gelasius'  successor  chosen  at  Cluny  was  Archbishop 

of  Vienne,  who  took  the  title  of  Calixtus  II.     He  was 

the  first  secular  priest  who  had  occupied  the 

Calixtus  II    pg^p^i  chair  since  Alexander  II,  and  lie  was 

related  to  tlie  royal  families  of  France  and 
England.  Thus  he  had  a  wider  outlook  than  tlie 
monks  who  preceded  him,  and  the  nobles  would  be 
likely  to  listen  to  a  man  of  their  own  rank.  He  had 
been  the  most  uncompromising  of  all  Henry's 
opponents ;  but  this  was  a  guarantee  to  the  Church 
that  her  position  and  power  would  not  again  be  placed 
in  jeopardy,  for  events  were  at  length  tending  towards 
a  conclusion  of   the  weary  strife.     The  views  of  the 


THE    END   OF   THE   QUARREL  53 

reformers  had  gained  general  acceptance  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church.  The  obhgation  of  clerical 
celibacy  was  acknowledged ;  simony  had  much  dimin- 
ished ;  Henry  was  the  only  King  in  Western  ]^]urope 
who  still  claimed  to  invest  his  prelates.  Althougli  it 
was  some  time  before  all  tlie  great  French  feudatories 
yielded  to  the  spirit  of  reform,  the  French  King  him- 
self had  abandoned  the  practice  of  investiture  for  those 
bishops  who  were  under  his  control.  He  retained, 
however,  certain  of  his  rii^hts.  The  election  could  not 
take  place  without  his  permission,  the  newly  elected 
bishop  took  an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  King,  and  during 
the  vacancy  of  the  see  the  revenues  were  paid  to  the 
Crown.  It  was  more  important  still  that  in  England 
the  question  of  investiture  had  been  settled  by  a  com- 
promise which  recognised  the  twofold  nature  of  the 
episcopal  office,  and  that  this  compromise  had  received 
the  sanction  of  the  Pope.  Henceforth  it  was  practi- 
cally impossible  for  the  Church  to  maintain  the  position 
of  the  extreme  reformers.  When  Pope  Pascal  was 
forced  to  grant  the  right  of  investiture  to  the  Emperor, 
Henry  I  of  England,  as  Anselm  complained  to  Pascal, 
threatened  to  resume  the  practice.  Already  AVilliam  I 
of  England  had  defined  the  limits  of  papal  power  in 
his  dominions  without  a  protest  from  Eome,  and 
Urban  II  had  actually  found  himself  obliged  to  endow 
Eoger  of  Sicily  and  his  successors  with  the  authority 
of  a  papal  legate  within  their  own  dominions.  It  was 
clear  that  the  papal  authority  could  do  little  against  a 
really  strong  lay  ruler.  Moreover,  the  influence  of 
the  Church  had  greatly  diminished.  There  was 
scarcely  a  see  or  abbey  to  which,  during  the  last  forty 
years,  there  had  not  been  rival  claimants :   King  and 


54  THE  CHURCH   AND  THK  EMPIRE 

nobles  alike  had  not  only  ceased  to  increase  the  endow- 
ments of  tlie  Church,  but  had  caught  at  almost  every 
opportunity  of  encroaching  on  them. 

The   accommodation   was   very   gradual,  for   much 
suspicion  of  insincerity  on  both  sides  had  to  be  over- 
come.    The  first  step  was  taken  in  October, 
Concordat     ^-^^c).     After  the  failure  of  direct  negotia- 

of  Worms.     ..  ,     ,  ,,  ,  -.-,  n  ^^ 

tions  between  rope  and  hmperor,  a  Council 
at  liheiins,  presided  over  by  the  Pope,  renewed  the 
anathema  against  Henry  and  his  party,  but  only  con- 
sented to  a  modified  prohibition  of  investitures,  since 
the  office  alone  was  mentioned  and  all  reference  to 
the  property  of  bishop  or  abbot  was  omitted.  It  was 
two  years  before  the  next  stage  was  reached,  and 
meanwhile  the  anti-Pope  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  Calixtus,  and  Henry  was  still  in  dilliculties  in 
Germany.  Finally,  in  October,  1121,  the  German 
nobles  brought  about  a  conference  of  envoys  from  both 
sides  at  Wiirzburg,  where  in  addition  to  an.  universal 
peace  it  was  arranged  that  the  investiture  question 
should  be  settled  at  a  General  Council  to  be  held  in 
Germany  under  pai)al  auspices.  The  Council  met  at 
Worms  in  September,  1122,  and  the  papal  legates 
were  armed  with  full  powers  to  act.  The  result  was 
a  Concordat  subsequently  ratified  at  the  first  Council 
of  the  Lateran  in  March,  112o,  which  is  reckoned 
as  the  ninth  General  Council  by  the  Iloman  Church. 
P>y  this  agreement  the  Emperor  gave  u})  all  claim 
to  invest  ecclesiastics  with  the  ring  and  stall.  In 
return  it  was  allowed  by  the  Churcli  tliat  the  election 
of  prelates  should  take  place  in  presence  of  the 
Emperor's  representatives,  and  that  in  case  of  any 
dispute    tlie    Emperor    should   confirm    the    decision 


THE   END    OF   THE   QUARREL  55 

arrived  at  by  the  Metropolitan  and  his  suffragans. 
The  Emperor  on  his  part  undertook  that  the  prelate 
elect,  whether  bishop  or  abbot,  should  be  invested 
with  the  regalia  or  temporalities  pertaining  to  his 
office  by  the  sceptre,  in  Germany  the  investiture 
preceding  the  ecclesiastical  consecration,  whereas  in 
Burgundy  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy  the  consecration 
should  come  first. 

We  are  naturally  tempted  to  enquire  ^vho  was  the 
gainer  in  this  loiig  struggle  ?  Writers  on  both  sides 
have  claimed  the  victory.  It  is  clear,  Results  of 
however,  that  neither  side  got  all  that  it  struggle  in 
demanded.  Considering  the  all-embracing  E"^pire ; 
character  of  the  papal  claim,  the  limitation  of  its 
pretensions  might  seem  to  carry  a  decided  diminution 
of  its  position.  Calixtus'  advisers  strongly  urged  that 
all  over  the  imperial  landsthe  consecration  of  prelates 
should  precede  the  investiture  of  temporalities  by  the 
lay  power.  But  the  German  nobles  would  not  budge. 
In  Burgundy  and  Italy  conditions  were  different :  in 
the  former  the  power  of  the  Crown  had  been  almost 
in  abeyance;  in  Italy  the  bishops  had  found  them- 
selves deserted  by  the  Crown  and  had  submitted  to 
the  Pope.  The  Crown  had  therefore  to  acquiesce 
in  a  merely  nominal  control  over  appointments  in 
those  lands.  But  in  Germany  the  King  perhaps 
gained  rather  than  lost  by  the  Concordat.  His  right 
of  influence  in  the  choice  was  definitely  acknowledged, 
and  by  refusing  the  regalia  he  could  practically  pre- 
vent the  consecration  of  any  one  obnoxious  to  him. 
The  prelates  of  Germany,  therefore,  remained  vassals 
of  the  Crown. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Papacy  had  definitely  sliaken 


56        thp:  church  and  the  empire 


itself  free  from  imperial  control.  Henry  III  was  the 
last  Emperor  who  coiikl  impose  his  nominee 
Papacy  ^ipo^^  ^^^^  Church  as  Pope;  the  proteges  of 
his  successors  are  all  classed  among  the 
anti-l*opes.  At  tlie  same  time  the  papal  privilege 
of  crowning  tlie  Emperor  and  the  papal  weapon  of 
excommunication  were  very  real  checks  upon  the 
German  King :  wliile  the  success  of  those  principles 
for  wdiich  the  Cluniac  party  had  striven  established 
the  theoretical  claim  of  the  Pope  to  be  the  moral 
guide,  and  the  part  which  he  played  in  starting  tlie 
Crusades  put  him  in  tlie  practical  position  of  the 
leader  of  Christendom  in  any  common  movement. 
It  was  no  slight  loss  to  the  Emperor  that  he  had 
been  the  chief  opponent  of  the  Pope  and  the  re- 
formers, and  that  in  the  matter  of  the  Crusades  he 
and  his  whole  nation  had  stood  ostentatiously  aloof. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE   SECULAR   CLERGY 

THE  great  movement  in  favour  of  Church  reform, 
which  had  emanated  from  Cluny,  had  worked 
itself  out  along  certain  definite  lines.  It  is  important 
to  ask  how  far  it  had  succeeded  in  achieving  its  objects. 
We  have  seen  that  it  was  a  movement  of  xhework 
essentially  monastic  conception  aimed  at  the  of  the 
purification  of  the  secular  clergy.  And  we  Church 
have  seen  that  the  evil  to  be  remedied  had  reformers, 
arisen  from  the  imminent  danger  that  the  Church 
would  be  laicised  and  feudalised.  From  the  highest  to 
the  lowest  all  ecclesiastical  posts  were  at  the  disposi- 
tion of  laymen  who  treated  them  as  a  species  of  feudal 
fief,  so  that  the  holders,  even  if  they  were  in  Holy 
Orders  (which  was  not  always  the  case),  regarded  their 
temporal  rights  and  obligations  as  the  first  considera- 
tion an^l,  like  all  feudal  tenants,  tried  to  establish  the 
right  of  hereditary  succession  in  their  holdings.  Thus 
the  work  of  the  reformers  had  been  of  a  double  nature  ; 
it  was  not  enough  that  they  should  aim  at  exorcising 
the  feudal  spirit  from  the  Church,  at  banishing  the 
feudal  ideal  from  the  minds  of  ecclesiastics :  it  waS' 
necessary  to  effect  what  was  indeed  a  revolution,  and 
to  shake  the  whole  organisation  of  the  Church  free 
from  the  trammels  which  close  contact  with  the  State 
had   laid   upon   it.       It   began   as   a   reformation   oi 

57 


58  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 


morals ;  it  developed  into  a  constitutional  revolution. 
There  was  involved  in  the  movement  both  an  inter- 
ference with  wliat  miglit  be  distinguished  as  private 
rights  and  also  a  readjustment  of  public  relations. 
The  reformers  headed  by  the  Pope  ultimately  decided 
to  concentrate  their  efforts  on  the  latter.  Hence  we 
may  begin  by  enquiring  how  far  they  had  succeeded  in 
freeing  episcopal  elections  from  lay  control. 

There  were  three  several  acts  of  the  lay  authority 
in  connection  with  the  appointment  of  bishops  to 
Episcopal  which  the  Church  reformers  took  exception, 
appoint-  The  King  or,  by  usurpation  from  him,  the 
ments.  great  feudal  lord  had  acquired  the  right  of 

nominating  directly  to"^  the  vacant  see,  to  the  detri- 
mentTanTeveirthe  exclusion,  of  the  old  electoral  rights 
of  cler^i-y  and  people ;  and  while  in  some  cases  nobles 
nominated  themselves  without  any  thought  of  taking 
Holy  Orders,  frequently  they  treated  the  bishoprics 
under  their  control  as  appanages  or  endowments  for 
the  younger  members  of  their  family.  Then,  before 
the  consecration^he  bishop- nominate  obtained  investi- 
ture from  the  lay  authority  by  the  symbolic  gifts  of  a 
rin<'  and  a  pastoral  staff  or  cross,  not  only  of  the  lands 
and  temporal  possessions  of  the  see,  but  also  of  the 
jurisdiction  which  emanated  from  the  episcopal  office. if 
Finally,  the  prospective  bishop  took  an  oath  to  his  lay 
lord,  wliether  King  or  other,  which  was  not  only  an 
oath  of  fealty  such  as  any  subject  might  be  called 
upon  to  take,  but  was  also  an  act  of  homage,  and 
made  him  an  actual  feudal  vassal  and  his  church  a 
kind  of  fief. 

The  result  of  the  long  struggle  was  that  in  tlie 
matter  of  episcopal  appointments,  speaking  generally, 


THE    SECULAR    CLERGY  59 

the  right  of  election  was  not  restored  to  clergy  and 
people,  in  whom  by  primitive  custom  it  had  been 
vestedj  but  that  the  laity,  with  the  possible  j_ 

exception  of  the  feudatories  of  the  see,  .^^ .  °  _«/^ 
were  banished  altogether,  the  rural  clergy 
ceased  to  appear,  and,  after  the  analogy  of  the  papal 
election  by  the  College  of  Cardinals,  the  canonical 
election  of  the  bishop  in  every  diocese  tends  to  be 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy  of  the  cathedral. 
IVwas  a  long  time,  however,  before  the  rights  of  the 
cathedral  chapters  w^ere  universally  recognised.  Henry  I 
of  England  in  his  Concordat  with  Anselm  (1107)  and 
the  Emperor  Henry  V  in  the  Concordat  of  Worms 
(1122)  both  promised  freedom  of  election.  Philip  I 
and  Louis  VI  of  France  seem  to  have  conceded  the 
same  right  without  any  formal  agreement.  But  many 
of  the  great  French  feudal  lords  clung  to  their  power 
over  the  local  bishoprics,  and  in  Normandy,  in  Anjou, 
and  in  some  parts  of  the  south  nearly  a  century  elapsed 
before  the  duke  or  count  surrendered  his  custom  of 
nominating  bishops  directly.  But  the  freedom  of  elec- 
tion by  the  Canons  of  the  cathedral,  even  when  it  was 
conceded,  was  little  more  than  nominal.  In  England, 
France,  and  the  Christian  kingdoms  of  Spain  ^  . 

no  cathedral  body  could  exercise  its  right    j,m"^^  ' 

witliout  the  King's  leave  to  elect,  nor  was 
any  election  complete  without  the  royal  confirmation. 
By  the  Concordat  of  Worms  elections  were  to  take 
place  in  the  presence  of  the  King  or  his  commissioners. 
By  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  (1164)  English 
bishops  must  be  elected  in  the  royal  chapel.  King 
John  tried  to  bribe  the  Church  over  to  his  side  in 
the  quarrel  with  the  barons  which  preceded  Magna 


6o  TMPi  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Carta,  by  conceding  tliat  elections  should  be  free — 
that  is,  should  take  place  in  the  chapter-house  of  the 
cathedral ;  but  even  he  reserved  the  royal  permission 
for  the  election  to  be  held,  and  the  congd  d'dire  in 
England  and  elsewhere  was  accompanied  by  the  name 
of  the  individual  on  whom  the  choice  of  the  electoral 
body  should  fall.  It  was  not  the  rights  of  the  electors 
but  the  all-pervading  authority  of  the  Pope  whicli  was 
to  prove  the  chief  rival  of  royal  influence  in  the  local 
Church. 

The  quarrel  between  Church  and  State  had  centred 
round  the  ceremony  of  investiture,  because  in  the  eyes 

of  the  reformers  the  most  scandalous -.rfir 
ture  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  feudalisation  of  the  Church  was 

the  acceptance  at  the  hands  of  a  layman  of 
the  spiritual  symbols  of  ring  and  crozier.  But  as 
Hugh  of  Fleury  had  acknowledged  in  his  tract  on 
"  Iloyal  Power  and  l*riestly  Office,"  investiture  there 
must  be  so  long  as  ecclesiastics  held  great  temporal 
possessions.  Here  again  some  of  the  French  nobles 
clung  to  the  old  anomalous  form  of  investiture,  but 
otherwise  the  example  of  the  imperial  lands,  of  the 
royal  domain  of  France  and  of  England  was  generally 
followed,  the  gifts  of  ring  and  staff  were  conceded  to 
the  Metropolitan,  and  where  no  special  form  of  in- 
vestiture by  the  sceptre  was  retained  it  was  confused 
with  the  ceremony  of  homage.  But  in  Germany  and 
England  investiture  with  the  lands  of  the  see  pre- 
ceded consecration,  so  that  while  on  the  one  hand  it 
was  not  a  bishop  who  was  being  invested  by  a  layman, 
on  the  other  hand  the  refusal  of  investiture  would 
practically  prevent  the  consecration  of  any  one 
obnoxious  to  the  Crown. 


1 


THE   SECULAR    CLERGY  6i 

With  regard  to  the  feudal  ceremony  of  homage  a 
distinction  came  to  be  drawn  by  writers  on  the  Canon 
Law  between  homage  and  fealty,  and  ecclesi-  Hon^^g-e 
astics  were  supposed  to  limit  themselves  to  and 
the  obligations  of  the  latter,  which  were  fealty, 
those  of  every  subject.  The  ceremony  was  not 
precisely  the  same,  as  in  the  case  of  a  lay  noble  being 
invested  with  a  fief;  but  in  France,  at  any  rate,  the 
Crown  never  really  abandoned  its  claim  to  a  feudal 
homage,  and  in  any  case  ecclesiastics  were  expected 
to  fulfil  their  feudal  obligations.  Even  Innocent  III 
acknowledged  this  in  a  decree  (§43)  of  the  Fourth 
Lateran  Council  (1215),  and  in  interceding  with 
Philip  II  of  France  on  behalf  of  two  bishops  who 
had  been  deprived  of  their  temporal  possessions  for 
some  neglect  of  military  duty,  he  argues  that  they  were 
"ready  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  your  Court,  as 
is  customary  in  such  matters." 

Arising  out  of  these  feudal  relations  certain  rights 

over  the  possessions  of  ecclesiastics  and  ecclesiastical 

bodies  were  claimed  by  the  Crown,  which    _ 

,,  p  .  •  Regale, 

were     the    cause     of    serious    oppression. 

According  to  the  Canon  Law,  the  bishop  was  only  the 
usufructuary  of  the  lands  and  revenues  belonging  to 
his  see.  The  lands  and  revenues  belonged  to  the 
Church.  But  inasmuch  as  these  had  been  originally 
in  most  cases  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  the  King  claimed 
to  deal  with  them  in  the  method  applied  to  feudal 
holdings.  By  the  right  of  regale,  on  the  vacancy  of 
a  see  through  death,  resignation,  or  deprivation  of  the 
bishop,  the  royal  officers  took  possession  of  the 
temporalities,  that  is,  the  land  and  revenues,  and  ad- 
ministered them  for  the  profit  of  the  Crown  so  long 


62  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


as  the  see  was  vacant.  The  Crown  did  not  hesitate 
to  use  the  episcopal  patronage  and  to  lill  up  vacant 
canonries  and  benefices  w^ith  its  own  followers,  and  it 
often  took  the  opportunity  to  levy  upon  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  diocese  a  special  tax — tallagmm,  tallage, 
or  taillc — whicli  a  landlord  had  a  right  of  exacting 
from  his  unfree  tenants.  It  was  to  the  interest  of 
the  Crown  to  prolong  a  vacancy,  and  attempts  to 
limit  the  exercise  of  the  right  were  of  little  practical 
effect. 

An  even  more  extraordinary  claim  was  to  the  right 

of  spoils  {jus  spolii   or   cxuviarium).     The   canonical 

law  forbidding  the  bishop  to  deal  by  will 

Right  of  ^-^^Yi  the  property  attached  to  his  see,  was 
spoils  i.      i-       •/ 

interpreted  as  applying  to  everything  which 

he  had  not  inherited.  Thus  the  furniture  of  his  house 
and  the  money  in  his  chest  were  claimed  as  of  riglit 
by  the  canons  of  his  cathedral,  Init  were  often 
plundered  by  the  crowd  of  the  city  or  by  the  local 
nobles.  These  lawless  proceedings  provoked  the  in- 
terference of  the  royal  officers,  who  succeeded  in  most 
cases  in  establishing  the  right  of  the  Crown  to  all 
movables  that  the  bislio])  IrfT     The  earliest  notTce'Df 


this  royal  claim  in  Germany  is  found  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  V.  It  was  in  full  use  under  Frederick  I. 
AVilliam  II  is  probably  responsi]>le  for  introducing 
both  the  rrriaJe  and  tlie  jm  spolii  from  Normandy 
into  England.  In  France  these  were  claimed  l)y  tlie 
feudal  nobles  as  well  as  Ijy  tlie  King.  lUtter  were 
the  complaints  made  by  the  Church  against  the 
exercise  of  both  rights.  Kings  and  nobles  clung  to 
the  regale  as  long  as  they  could,  for  it  meant  local 
influence  as  well  as  revenue.     In  most  cases,  however, 


THE   SECULAR    CLERGY  63 

the  right  of  spoils  had  been  surrendered  before  the 
thirteentli  century.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
ecclesiastics  themselves  exercised  tliis  right,  bishops, 
for  example,  claiming  the  possessions  of  the  canons 
and  the  parish  priests  in  their  dioceses.  The  Popes  in 
relaxation  of  the  Canon  Law  gave  to  certain  bishops 
the  right  of  leaving  their  personal  property  by  will, 
and  the  canons  also  are  found  encouraging  their 
bishop  to  make  a  will. 

As  a  set-off  against  these  claims  of  the  Crown  upon 
the  Chnrch,  the  clergy  also  advanced  certain  claims. 
These  touched  the  two  important  matters    daims 
of  taxation  and  jurisdiction.     The  Church    of  the 
claimed  for  her  members  that  they  should    clergy, 
not  be  liable  to  pay  the  taxes  raised  by  the  secular 
authorities,  nor  should  they  have  causes  to  which  any 
ecclesiastic  was  a  party  tried  in  the  secular  courts. 

In  seeking  freedom  from  lay  taxation  the  Church 
did  not  ask  that  her  members  should  escape  their 
feudal  obligations,  nor  even  that  they  should  immunity 
contribute  nothing  to  the  exigencies  of  the  from  lay 
State.  The  desire  was  merely  that  the  clergy  taxation, 
should  be  free  from  oppression  and  that  the  Church 
should  be  so  far  as  possible  self-governing.  Thus 
Alexander  III  decreed  in  the  third  Lateran  Council 
(1179),  that  for  relieving  the  needs  of  the  community, 
everything  contributed  by  the  Church  to  supplement 
the  contributions  of  the  laity  should  be  given  without 
compulsion  on  the  recognition  of  its  necessity  or  utility 
by  the  bishop  and  the  clergy.  Innocent  III,  in  the 
fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215),  provided  a  further  safe- 
guard against  lay  impositions  in  demanding  the  per- 
mission of  the  Pope  for  any  such  levy.     This  does  uot 


64  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


mean  tliat  the  clergy  escaped  taxation  at  the  hands  of 
the  State ;  it  merely  means  tliat  while  the  Popes  them- 
selves heavily  taxed  them  forpurposes  whicli  itwas  often 
difficult  to  describe  as  religious,  the  price  paid  by  the 
Crown  for  leave  to  tax  the  clergy  was  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  money  should  find  its  way  to  Eome. 

The  clergy  were  not  content  with  this  merely  nega- 
tive position.  Besides  the  right  of  self-taxation,  they 
Tithes  claimed  that  the  laity  should  contribute  to 

from  the  the  needs  of  the  Church.  The  chief  perma- 
laity.  nent  source  of  such  contribution  was  the 

tithe,  both  the  lesser  tithes  on  smaller  animals,  fruits, 
and  vegetables,  and  the  greater  tithes  on  corn,  wine,  and 
the  larger  animals.     The  Church  also  claimed  tithes  of 
revenues  of  every  kind,  even  from  such  divers  classes 
as  traders,  soldiers,  beggars,  and  abandoned  women. 
Much  of  the  regular  tithe  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
laymen  by  gift  from  Kings  to  feudal  tenants,  or  from 
bishops  to  nobles  and  others,  in  return  for  military 
protection.     These  alienated  tithes  Gregory  YII  tried 
to  recover;  but  his  need  for  the  help  of  the  nobles 
against  the  Emperor  forced  him  to  stay  his  hand.    The 
third  Lateran  Council  (1179)  forbade,  on  pain  of  peril 
to  the  soul,  the  Uansler  ui  tithes  from  one  layman  to" 
another,   and   deprived  of  Christian "  burial  any  one 
'  who,  apparently  having  received  such  a  transfer,  should 
not  have  made  it  over  to  the  Cliurcli.     This  was  a 
definite  claim  for  tithes  as  a  right  of  which  the  Church 
liad  only  been  deprived  by  some  wrongful  act.     But  in 
the  very  next  year  (1180)  Frederick  1,  at  the  Diet  of 
Gelnliausen,  declared  that  the  alienation  of  tithes  as 
feudal  tiefs  to  defenders  of  the  Churcli  was  perfectly 
legitimate.     Keligious  scruples,  liowever,  seem  to  have 


THE   SECULAR   CLERGY  65 

caused  the  surrender  of  tithes  by  many  lay  impro- 
priators, especially  to  monasteries. 

There  were  many  other  sources  of  wealth  to  the 
Church.  An  enormous  quantity  of  property  was  be- 
queathed to  pious  uses  by  testators.  The 
attendance  of  the  clergy  at  the  death-bed 
gave  them  an  opportunity  of  which  they  were  not 
slow  to  make  use.  The  bodies  of  those  who  died  intes- 
tate, as  of  those  unconfessed,  were  denied  burial  in 
consecrated  ground ;  all  questions  concerning  wills  were 
heard  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  The  civil  power 
attempted  to  check  the  freedom  of  death -bed  bequest, 
especially  in  Germany,  where  it  was  held  that  a  valid  will 
could  only  be  made  by  one  who  was  still  well  enough  to 
walk  unsupported.  Another  common  source  of  revenue 
came  from  purchases  or  mortgages  or  other  arrangements 
made  with  crusaders,  in  which  advantage  was  taken  of 
the  haste  of  the  laymen  to  raise  funds  for  their  expedition. 

From   these   and  other  sources  the  wealth  which 
poured  in  upon  the  Church  was  enormous.     Individual 
gifts  in  money  or  in  kind  as  thank-offerings    Wealth 
on  all  sorts  of  occasions  reached  no  small    of  the 
total ;    while  no  religious  ceremony,  from    ^  "^^  * 
baptism  to  extreme  unction  and  burial,  could  be  carried 
out  apart  from  the  payment  of  an  appropriate  fee. 
The  clergy  constantly  complained  of  spoliation,  and  no 
doubt  individuals  suffered  much.     The  very  laymen 
who,  with  the  title  of  advocates,  undertook  to  defend 
a  cathedral  or  a  monastery  were  often  its  worst  robbers. 
But  the  endowments  and  revenues  of  the  Church  were 
so  extensive  as  to  raise  in  the  minds  of  many  reformers 
the  question  whether  they  were  not  largely  responsible 
for  her  corruptions. 

F 


66  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


The  clergy  also  sought  freedom  from  tlie  jurisdiction 
of  the  secular  courts ;  in  other  words,  tlie  Church 
Immunitv  claimed  exclusive  cognisance  in  her  own 
from  lay  tribunals  of_all  matters  concerning  those  in 
jurisdic-  Holj  Orders.  The  Dccretimi  of  Gratian — 
^^°"*  the  text-book  of  Canon  Law — laid  it  down 

that  in  civil  matters  the  clergy  were  to  be  brought 
before  a  civil  judge,  but  that  a  criminal  charge  against 
a  clerk  must  be  heard  before  the  bishop.  Urban  II, 
however,  declares  that  all  clergy  should  be  subject  to 
the  bishop  alone,  and  the  Synod  of  Nimes  (1096),  at 
which  he  presided,  stigmatises  it  as  sacrilege  to  hale 
clerks  or  monks  before  a  secular  court.  Alexander 
III  (1179)  threatens  to  excommunicate  any  layman 
guilty  of  this  offence ;  while  Innocent  III  points  out 
that  a  clerk  is  not  even  at  liberty  to  waive  the  right 
of  trial  in  an  ecclesiastical  court  in  a  matter  between 
him  and  a  layman,  because  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  is 
not  a  matter  personal  to  himself,  but  belongs  to  the 
whole  clerical  body.  Finally  Frederick  II,  on  his 
coronation  at  Eome  in  1220,  forbade  any  one  to  dare  to 
indict  an  ecclesiastic  on  either  a  civil  or  a  criminal 
charge  before  a  secular  tribunal.  But  meanwhile  the 
frequent  perpetration  of  violent  crimes  by  those  who 
wore  tlie  tonsure  made  it  imperative  in  the  interests 
of  social  order  that  the  Church  should  not  be  allowed 
to  defeiul  tliese  criminals  in  order  to  save  her  own 
interests. 

The  fiercest  struggle  took  place  in  England.  Henry 
II  did  not  deny  the  right  of  the  Church  to  jurisdiction 
over  her  members ;  but  he  demanded  that  clerks 
found  guilty  of  grave  crime  should  be  unfrocked 
by  the  ecclesiastical  court,  and  tliat  then,  being  no 


THE    SECULAR    Cr.KRGY  67 


longer  clerks,  they  sliould  be  liandecl  over  to  the  royal 
officers',  by  whom  tliey  should  be  punished  according  to 
their  deserts.  Arclibisliop  Thomas  Becket  answered 
that  it  was  contrary  to  justice  and  the  Canon  Law  that 
a  man  should  be  punished  twice  for  the  same  offence ; 
that  the  punishment  by  the  Churcli  involved  the 
offender's  damnation  and  was  therefore  quite  adequate  ; 
and  that  finally  lie  himself  was  officially  bound  to 
defend  the  liberties  of  the  Church  even  to  the  death. 
Henry  II  attempted  to  solve  the  difficulty  by  issuing 
the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  (1164),  the  third  clause 
of  wdiich  decreed  that  the  royal  officer  sliould  deter- 
mine whether  any  matter  in  which  a  clerk  was  con- 
cerned should  be  tried  in  the  secular  or  the  ecclesiastical 
court,  and  that  even  if  it  w^ent  to  the  latter,  the  Kind's 
officer  should  be  present  at  the  hearing.  As  the  price, 
however,  of  his  reconciliation  with  the  Papacy  after 
Becket's  death,  Henry  was  obliged  to  withdraw  the 
Constitutions. 

The  position  of  the  Church  on  this  question  w^as 
clearly  stated  by  Pope  Celestine  III  in  1192.  If  a 
clerk  had  been  lawfully  convicted  of  theft,  homi- 
cide, perjury,  or  any  capital  crime,  he  should  be 
degraded  by  the  ecclesiastical  judge;  for  the  next 
offence  he  should  be  punished  by  excommunication, 
and  for  the  next  by  anathema  ;  then,  since  the  Church 
could  do  no  more,  for  any  subsequent  offence  he  might 
be  handed  over  to  the  secular  power  to  be  punished  by 
exile  or  in  any  other  lawful  manner.  This,  of  course, 
was  a  direct  licence  to  the  ill-disposed  clergy  to  com- 
mit more  crimes  than  were  allowable  for  a  layman ; 
but  the  laity  had  to  proceed  cautiously  in  opposing  it. 
In  1219  Philip  II  of  France  demanded  that  a  clerk 


68  THK  ("HURCH    AND  THR  EMPIRE 

wlio  had  Iteoii  degraded  sliould  not  be  protected  by 
tlie  Churcli  from  seizure  outside  ecclesiastical  pre- 
cincts by  the  royal  officers  witli  a  view  to  his  trial  in 
a  secular  court.  15ut  liere  again,  both  at  liis  coronation 
as  Emperor  in  1220  and  again  in  the  code  of  laws 
drawn  up  for  his  kingdom  of  Sicily  in  1231,  Frederick 
II  confirmed  the  privileges  of  the  Church  in  the 
matter  of  jurisdiction.  On  the  latter  occasion,  how- 
ever, he  did  reserve  cases  of  hicrh  treason  for  the 
royal  court.  Almost  the  only  immediate  effect  of 
tliese  protests  on  the  part  of  the  State  was  that  Popes 
and  Councils  enjoined  on  the  ecclesiastical  courts 
greater  severity  of  treatment  of  offenders,  even  to 
the  extent  of  perpetual  imprisonment  in  the  case  of 
those  wliom  the  lay  tribunals  would  have  condemned 
to  death. 

But  this  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  all  matters  that 

concerned  her  own  members  was  only  a  part  of  the 

authority   claimed    and    exercised    by   the 

IncrGSS6 

ofecclesi-  Cliurch  in  the  sphere  of  justice.  Synods 
astical  of  the  clergy  did  not  hesitate  to  take  part 

jurisdic-  ill  the  enjorcement  of  civil  law  and  order, 
and  threatened  with  severe  ecclesiastical 
penalties  all  who  did  not  observe  the  Truce  of  God,  or 
who  were  guilty  of  piracy,  incendiarism,  or  false 
coining.  At  one  time  they  attemj^ted  thus  to  sup- 
press usury  and  trial  by  ordeal,  wliich  at  other  times 
they  allowed.  They  even  legislated  against  tourna- 
ments and  against  the  use  of  certain  deadly  weapons 
in  Ijattle  by  one  Cliristian  nation  against  another. 
But  apart  from  the  special  circumstances  which  called 
out  and  so  justified  tlie  legislation,  the  Church  claimed 
at  all  times  jurisdiction  over  certain  classes  of   lay 


THE    SECULAR    CLERGY  69 

persons  and  in  certain  categories  of  cases.  Thus  all 
persons  needing  protection,  such  as  widows,  minors, 
and  orplians,  came  under  tb£  cognisance  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts,  and  to  these  the  Popes  added  Crusaders. 
Furthermore,  all  cases  which  could  be  regarded  as  in 
any  way  involving  a  possible  breach  of  faith  w^ere 
also  claimed  as  belonging  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Church,  and  these  included  everything  concerning  oaths, 
marriages,  and  wills.  Naturally  the  Church  had  cog- 
nisance of  all  cases  of  sacrilege  and  heresy.  These 
excuses  for  interference  in  the  transactions  of  daily 
life  w^ere  susceptible  of  almost  indefinite  extension, 
especially  since  the  Church  asserted  a  right  to  hear 
cases  of  all  sorts  in  her  courts  on  appeal  on  a  plea 
that  civil  justice  had  failed.  Even  so  stout  a  cham- 
pion of  the  Church  as  St.  Bernard  complains  bitterly 
that  all  this  participation  in  w^orldly  matters  tends  to 
stand  between  the  clergy  and  their  proper  duties. 
The  secular  powers  constantly  protested.  Even  when 
Alfonso  X  in  his  legal  code  allowed  that  all  suits 
arising  from  sins  should  go  to  ecclesiastical  courts, 
the  Cortes  of  Castile  constantly  protested.  The  chief 
attempts  to  check  the  growth  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion were  made  in  France.  Even  under  Louis  IX  the 
barons  combined  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the 
Church,  and  resolved  that  "  no  clerk  or  layman  should 
in  future  indict  any  one  before  an  ecclesiastical  judge 
except  for  heresy,  marriage,  or  usury,  on  pain  of  loss  of 
possessions  and  mutilation  of  a  limb,  in  order  that," 
they  add  witli  a  justifiable  touch  of  malice,  "  our 
jurisdiction  may  be  revived,  and  they  [the  clergy]  who 
have  hitherto  been  enriched  by  our  pauperisation 
may  be    reduced   to    the   condition    of    the    primitive 


70  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

Church,  and  living  the  contem[)lative  life  tliey  may, 
as  is  seemly,  show  to  ns  who  spend  an  active  life 
miracles  which  for  a  long  time  have  disappeared  from 
the  world." 

The  result,  then,  of  the  efforts  of  the  Church 
reformers  to  free  the  Church  from  the  State  had  been 
an  enormous  increase  in  the  power  of  the 
Church.  But  these  efforts  were  in  the  be- 
ginning only  a  means  to  an  end,  and  tliat  end  was  the 
purification  of  the  Church  itself.  We  have,  therefore, 
to  ask  liow  far  the  attempts  to  get  rid  of  simony  and 
to  enforce  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  had  met  with 
permanent  success.  Before  tlie  movement  in  favour 
of  reform  the  traffic  in  churches  and  Church  property 
was  indulged  in  by  laity  and  clergy  alike.  Not  only 
Kings  and  nobles  but  bishops  and  abbots  received 
payments  from  those  who  accepted  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferment at  their  hands,  and  were  by  no  means  always 
careful  that  ecclesiastical  offices  were  acquired  by 
those  in  Holy  Orders.  Church  property,  in  fact,  was 
treated  by  those  who  represented  the  original  donors 
as  if  it  were  the  private  property  of  the  patron.  The 
reform  movement  of  the  eleventh  century,  at  any 
rate,  succeeded  in  making  a  distinction  between  the 
riL^htj)f  ownership  and  the  right  of  j)reseniialiQii,  and 
in  limiting  the  power  of  the  patron  to  the  latter. 
Beyond  this  nothing  much  was  permanently  effected 
in  checkinj:'  the  traffic  in  tliini^s  ecclesiastical.  Prefer- 
ment  continued  to  be  used  as  patronage :  offices  and 
dignities  in  the  Churcli  were  given  to  cliildren,  and 
preferments  were  accumulated  upon  individuals  until 
pluralities  became  a  standing  grievance.  Councils 
and    Popes  still  thundered  against  simony,  Init  with 


THK   SECULAR   CLERGY  71 

the  extending  authority  of  Eome  the  staff  of  tlie 
papal  curia  was  increased,  ancUthe  traffic  in  things 
ecclesiastical  at  Eome  was  notorious. 

The  efforts  of  the  reformers  in  checking  clerical 
marriage  had  not  been  much  more  successful.  The 
law  now  stood  as  follows :  tlie  first  two 
Lateran  Councils  (1123,  1139)  prohibited  ^^'l-^\ 
matrimony  to  priests,  deacons;  and  sub- 
deacons  ;  but  to  those  only  in  one  of  the  three  minor 
orders  of  the  Church  it  was  still  allowed,  although 
Alexander  III  ultimately  decreed  that  marriage  should 
cause  them  to  forfeit  their  benefice.  It  was  some 
time,  however,  before  these  decrees  could  be  enforced, 
and  even  the  Popes  found  themselves  compelled  to 
deal  leniently  with  offending  clergy.  Thus  Pascal  II 
allowed  to  Archbishop  Anselm  that  a  married  priest 
not  only  might,  but  must,  if  applied  to,  minister  to  a 
dying  person.  Attempts  were  made  to  forbid  ordi- 
nation to  the  sons  of  priests,  at  least  as  secular  clergy, 
but  such  regulations  were  constantly  relaxed  or  ignored. 
Pascal  II  actually  allowed  that  in  Spain,  where 
clerical  marriage  had  been  lawful,  the  children  should 
be  eligible  for  all  secular  and  ecclesiastical  preferment. 
In  the  remoter  countries  of  Europe — the  Scandinavian 
lands,  Bohemia,  Hungary,  Poland— the  decrees  against 
clerical  marriage  were  not  accepted  until  far  into  the 
thirteenth  century.  Even  in  part  of  Germany,  notably 
the  diocese  of  Liege,  the  clergy  continued  openly  to 
marry  until  the  same  century.  But  even  in  countries 
where  the  principle  was  nominally  accepted  it 
triuuiphed  at  the  expense  of  morality.  Fur  example, 
in  England  the  decree  was  published  in  Council  after 
Council  throughout  the  twelfth  century  and  was  un- 


72  THE  CHURCH   AND  THK  PLMPIRE 

doubtedly  accepted  as  the  law.  But  in  1129,  after  the 
death  of  Ansehii,  who  had  opposed  the  expedient, 
Henry  I  imprisoned  the  "house-keepers"  of  the  clergy 
in  London  in  order  to  obtain  a  sum  of  money  by  their 
release.  Furthermore,  both  in  England  and  elsewdiere, 
bishops  finding  it  impossible  to  enforce  the  decree, 
frankly  licensed  the  breach  of  it  by  individual  clergy 
in  return  for  an  annual  payment.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  several  important  writers  of  the  age  speak 
with  studied  moderation  on  this  question.  The  great 
lawyer  Gratian  admits  that  in  the  earlier  period  of  the 
Church  marriage  was  allowed  to  the  clergy.  The 
Parisian  theologian,  Peter  Comestor,  publicly  taught 
that  the  enforcement  of  the  vow  of  celibacy  on  the 
clergy  was  a  deliberate  snare  of  the  devil.  The  Eng- 
lish historians,  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  Matthew  Paris, 
and  Thomas  of  AYalsingham,  speak  with  disapproval  of 
'  the  attempts  to  enforce  it,  and  even  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  holds  that  the  celibacy  of  the  secular  clergy 
was  a  matter  of  merely  human  regulation.  Thus  the 
protest  of  the  reformers  of  the  eleventh  century  in 
favour  of  purity  of  life  among  the  clergy  had  met 
with  the  smallest  possible  success,  but  like  all  such 
protests,  it  helped  to  keep  alive  tlie  idea  of  a  higher 
standard  of  personal  and  official  life  until  such  time 
as  secular  circumstances  were  more  favourable. 


CHAPTER    V 
CANONS    AND    MONKS 

SO  far,  in  speaking  of  the  attempted  purification 
of  the  Church  in  the  eleventh  century,  we  have 

dealt   merely   with   the    bishops   and   the 

Secular 
parochial  clergy.     But  a  movement  which    canons 

emanated  from  the  monasteries  had  a 
message  also  for  those  ecclesiastics  who  were  gathered 
into  corporate  bodies,  and  whom  we  have  learnt  to 
distinguish  respectively  as  canons  and  monks.  Of^ 
these  the  canons  were  reckoned  among  the  secular 
clergy ;  for^  although  they  were^~supposed~^to  live"~a  (7 
common  life  according  toa  certain  rule^  their  duties  ^^ 
were  parochial,  and  thexJiVf^ve  Ti^t  boun^_for  life  to 
the  community  of  which  they  were  members.  The 
body  of  canons  was  called  a  chapter,  and  of  chapters 
there  were  two  kinds — the  catliedral  chapter,  whose 
members  served  the  Mother  Church  of  the  diocese, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  ultimately  obtained  the  nominal 
right  of  electing  the  bishop ;  and  the  collegfiate 
chapter,  generally,  though  not  always,  to  be  found 
in  towns  which  had  no  cathedral,  the  members  of 
which,  like  those  of  a  modern  clergy-house,  served 
the  church  or  churches  of  the  town.  In  the  eighth 
century  these  communities  were  subjected  to  a  rule 
drawn  up  by  Chrodegang,  Bishop  of  Metz,  in  accord- 
ance with  which   they  were  required  to  sleep  in  a 

73 


74  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

coiiinion  dormitory,  feed  at  a  coinmou  table,  and 
assimilate  themselves  as  far  as  possible  to  monks. 
But  in  the  two  succeeding  centuries  there  was  no 
class  of  clergy  which  fell  so  far  from  the  ideal  as 
the  capitular  clergy.  They  were  important  and  they 
were  wealthy,  for  the  cathedral  chapters  claimed  to 
share  with  the  bishop  in  the  administration  of  the 
diocese,  and  both  kinds  of  chapters  owned  extensive 
lands.  In  some  of  the  more  important  chapters 
izreat  feudal  nobles  had  obtained  for  themselves  the 
titular  offices ;  in  nearly  all  such  bodies  some,  if  not 
most  or  even  all,  of  the  canonries  came  to  be  reserved 
for  younger  members  of  the  noble  families.  The 
common  property  was  divided  into  shares,  between 
the  bishop  a.id  the  body  of  the  canons  and  between 
tlie  individual  canons :  many  of  the  canons  employed 
vicars  to  do  their  clerical  duty,  and  some  even  lived 
on  the  estates  of  the  capitular  body,  leading  the 
existence  of  a  lay  noble.  Even  those  who  remained 
OIL  the  spot  had  houses  of  their  own  round  the 
cloister,  where  they  lived  with  their  wives  and 
children,  using  the  common  refectory  only  for  an 
occasional  festival. 

Tlius    no    bodv   of    ecclesiastics   stood   in   need   of 

thorougli  reform  more  than  the  capitular  clergy,  and 

no    class    proved    so    hard    to    deal    with. 

anons         Attempts  to  substitute  Cluniac  monks  for 

canons  roused  tlie  opposition  of  tlie  whole 

body  of  secular  clergy.     More  successful  to  a  small 

degree  was  tlie  plan  of   lUshup  Ivo  of  Chartres  and 

others  to  revive  among  the  capitular  bodies  tlie  rule 

of   common    life.     But   it   was  difficult  to  pour  new 

wine  into   old    bottles,  and    tlie    reformers    found   it 


CANONS   AND    MONKS  75 

more  profitable  to  leave  the  old  capitular  bodies 
severely  alone,  and  to  devote  "'their  efforts  to  the 
foundation  of  new  communities.  To  these  were  ap- 
plied from  the  very  first  a  new  rule  for  which  its 
advocates  claimed  the  authority  of  St.  Augustine.  It 
laid  upon  the  members  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and 
obedience,  and  placed  them  under  an  abbot  elected  by 
the  community  of  canons.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
Augustinian  or  Austin  Canons,  who  came  to  be  dis- 
tinguislied  as  Eegular  Canons,  and  are  to  be  reckoned 
with  monastic  bodies,  in  comparison  with  the  old 
cathedral  and  collegiate  chapters,  who  were  hence- 
forth known  as  Secular  Canons.  These  bodies  of 
clergy,  wlio  combined  parochial  duties  with  what  was 
practically  a  monastic  life,  became  exceedingly  popular ; 
and  by  degrees  not  only  were  Secular  Canons  of 
collegiate  churches,  and  even  of  some  cathedrals, 
transformed  into  Eegular  Canons,  but  even  some 
monastic  houses  were  handed  over  to  them.  Instead 
of  existing  as  isolated  bodies,  like  the  old  Benedictines, 
they  took  the  Cluniac  model  of  organisation  and 
formed  congregations  of  houses  grouped  round  some 
one  or  other  of  those  which  formed  models  for  the 
rest.  Of  these  congregations  of  Eegular  Canons  the 
most  celebrated  were  those  of  the  Victorines  and  the 
Premonstratensians. 

The  abbey  of  St.  Victor  at  Paris  was  founded  in 
1113  by  William  of  Champeaux,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Chalons.   The  Order  came  to  consist  of  about  . 

forty  houses,  and  its    members   strove    to 
keep  the  Augustinian  ideal  of  a  parochial  and  monastic 
life.     But  the  chief  fame  of  the  abbey  itself  comes 
from  its  scholastic  work,  and  it  became  known  both 


76  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

as  the  stronghold  of  a  somewhat  rigid  orthodoxy  and 
as  the  home  of  a  mystical  theology  which  was  de- 
veloped among  its  own  teachers. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  congregation  of 
Canons  Eegular  was  that  of  the  Premonstratensians. 
Premon-  Their  founder,  Norbert,  a  German  of  noble 
straten-  birth,  in  response  to  a  sudden  conversion, 
sians.  gave  up  several  canonries  of  the  older  kind 

with  which  he  was  endowed ;  but  finding  that  a 
prophet  has  no  honour  in  his  own  country,  he  preached 
in  France  with  astonishing  success,  and  ultimately, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Bishop  of  Laon  in  1120,  he 
settled  with  a  few  companions  in  a  waste  place  in 
a  forest,  where  he  established  a  community  of  Eegular 
Canons  and  gave  to  the  spot  the  name  of  Fr^montre 
— pratuiii  monstratum — the  meadow  which  had  been 
pointed  out  to  him  by  an  angel.  Almost  from  its 
foundation  the  Premonstratensian  Order  admitted 
women  as  well  as  men,  and  at  first  the  two  sexes 
lived  in  separate  houses  planted  side  by  side.  The 
Order  al=o  began  the  idea  of  affiliating  to  itself,  under 
the  form  of  a  third  class,  influential  laymen  who  w^ould 
help  in  its  work.  The  Premonstratensian  houses 
assimilated  tliemselves  to  monastic  communities  more 
than  did  the  Victorines :  their  work  was  missionary 
rather  than  parochial.  Tlie  Order  spread  with  great 
rapidity  not  only  in  Western  Eluropc,  but,  even 
in  its  founder's  lifetime,  to  Syria  and  Palestine,  and 
for  purposes  of  administration  it  came  to  be  divided 
into  thirty  provinces. 

Meanwliile  Norbert  liad  come  under, the  notice  of 
the  Emperor  Lothair  TT,  who  forced  liim  into  the 
archbishopric    of    Magdeburg.     Here    lie    substituted 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  77 


Premonstratensians  in  a  collegiate  chapter  for  canons 
of  the  older  kind,  and  he  eagerlj^  backed  up  Lothair's 
policy  of  extending  German  influence  upon  g^  Norbert 
the  north-eastern  frontier  by  planting  Pre-  in 
monstratensian  honses  as  missionary  centres  ^''"^^.ny. 
and  by  founding  new  bishoprics.  Norbert,  in  fact 
became  Lothair's  chief  adviser  and  was  an  European 
influence  second  only  to  that  of  St.  Bernard  in  all 
the  questions  of  the  day. 

It  was  upon  the  model  of  the  Canons  Eegular 
that  the  great  military  Orders  of  the  religious  were 
organised.  In  the  year  1118  a  Burgundian  knight, 
Hugh  de  Payens,  with  eight  other  kniglits,  founded  at 
Jerusalem  an  association  for  the  protection  of  distressed 
pilgrims  in  Palestine.  From  their  residence 
near  Solomon's  Temple  they  came  to  be  Termjlars 
known  as  the  Knights  of  the  Temple.  They 
remained  a  small  and  poor  body  until  St.  Bernard 
who  was  nephew  to  one  of  the  knights,  took  them 
under  his  patronage  and  drew  up  for  them  a  code  of 
regulations  which  obtained  the  sanction  of  Honorius  II 
at  the  Council  of  Troyes  in  1128.  From  that  moment 
the  prosperity  of  the  Templars  was  assured.  Their 
numbers  increased,  and  lands  and  other  endowments 
were  showered  upon  them  in  all  parts  of  Europe.  As 
monks  they  were  under  the  triple  vow  of  poverty, 
chastity,  and  obedience,  and  the  regulations  of  the 
Order  which  governed  their  daily  life  were  among  the 
most  severe.  As  knights  it  was  their  duty  to  main- 
tain war  against  the  Saracens.  For  administrative 
purposes  the  possessions  of  the  Order  were  grouped 
in  ten  provinces,  each  province  being  further  sub- 
divided into  preceptories  or  commanderies,  and  each 


78  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

of  these  into  still  smaller  units.  Each  division 
and  subdivision  had  its  own  periodical  chapter  of 
members  for  settling  its  concerns,  and  at  the  head 
of  the  whole  Order  stood  the  Grand  Master  with 
a  stair  of  othcers  wdio  formed  the  general  chapter 
and  acted  as  a  restraint  upon  the  conduct  of  their 
head.  In  addition  to  the  knio;hts  the  Order  contained 
chaplains  for  the  ecclesiastical  duties,  and  serving 
brethren  of  humble  birth  to  help  the  knights  in 
warfare.  1'lieir  possessions  in  Western  Europe  were 
used  as  recruiting-grounds  for  their  forces  in  the  East ; 
but  it  was  only  in  towns  of  some  importance  that 
they  erected  churches  on  the  model  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  in  connection  with  their  houses. 

The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 
was  a  reorganisation  of  a  hospital  dedicated  to  St.  John 
Knights  t^^^  Baptist.  This  had  been  erected  for 
Hospital-  poor  pilgrims  by  the  merchants  of  Amalfi 
lers.  before  the  Crusades  began.    But  it  remained 

merely  a  charitable  brotherhood  living  under  a  monastic 
rule  and  attracting  both  men  and  endowments,  until 
the  example  of  the  Templars  caused  the  then  master, 
Itaymond  du  Puy,  to  obtain  papal  sanction  some  time 
before  1130  for  a  rule  which  added  military  duties 
w^ithout  superseding  the  original  object  of  the  Order. 
Their  possessions  were  divided  into  eight  provinces 
with  subdivisions  of  grand  priories  and  commanderies, 
and  the  other  administrative  arrangements  differed 
in  little,  except  occasionally  in  name,  from  those  of 
the  Tem})lars. 

Both  these  Orders  obtained  not  only  extensive  pos- 
sessions from  the  pious,  but  wide  privileges  from  tlie 
Pope.     They  were  subject  to  tlie  spiritual  jurisdiction 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  79 

of  the  Pope  alone ;  they  couhl  consecrate  cluirclies 
and  cemeteries  on  their  own  lands  without  any 
interference  of  the  local  clergy ;  they  could  Pi-ivHeg-es 
hold  divine  service  everywhere.  Interdicts  of  the 
and  excommunications  had  no  terrors  or  military 
even  inconveniences  for  them.  They  were  ^^^^^^• 
free  from  payment  of  tithes  and  other  imposts  levied 
on  the  clergy.  There  is  no  doubt  that  but  for  these 
Orders  the  Crusaders  would  have  fared  far  worse  than 
they  did.  The  Templars  and  Hospitallers  were  the 
one  really  reliable  element  in  the  crusading  -pheir 
forces.  This  is  no  very  high  praise,  and  ultimate 
their  effectiveness  w^as  largely  discounted  ^^^^• 
by  their  bitter  quarrels  with  each  other  and  with  the 
local  authorities,  both  secular  and  ecclesiastical,  alike  in 
the  east  and  the  west.  They  scandalously  abused  the 
extensive  privileges  accorded  to  them,  by  such  acts  as 
the  administration  of  the  Sacrament  to  excommuni- 
cated persons,  to  whom  they  would  also  give  Christian 
burial.  In  1179,  at  the  second  Lateran  Council, 
Alexander  III  was  moved  by  the  universal  complaints 
to  denounce  their  irresponsible  defiance  of  all  ecclesi- 
astical law,  and  subsequent  Popes  were  obliged  to 
speak  with  equal  vigour.  After  the  destruction  of  the 
Latin  power  in  Palestine  (1291)  the  Hospitallers  trans- 
ferred their  head-quarters  to  Cyprus  till  1309,  then  to 
Ehodes,  and  finally  to  Malta.  The  Templars  abandoned 
their  raison  d'etre,  retired  to  their  possessions  in  the 
w^est,  and  placed  their  head-quarters  at  Paris,  where 
they  acted  as  the  bankers  of  the  French  King.  Their 
wealth  provoked  jealousy :  they  were  accused  of  num- 
berless and  nameless  crimes,  and  their  enemies  brought 
about  their  fall,  first  in  France,  then  in  England,  and 


8o  THE   CHrUCII   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

linally  the  abolition  of  tlie  Order  by  papal  decree  in 
1313.  Such  of  their  wealth  as  escaped  the  hands  of 
the  lay  authorities  went  to  swell  the  possessions  of  the 
Hospitallers. 

There  were  many  other  Orders  of  soldier-monks 
besides  these  two.  The  best  known  are  the  Teutonic 
Knights,  who  originated  during  the  Third 
Knf  ht''  Crusade  at  the  siege  of  Acre  (1190)  in  an 
association  of  North  German  Crusaders  for 
the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  The  Knights  of  the 
German  Hospital  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin  at  Jerusalem 
— for  such  was  their  full  title — gained  powerful  influ- 
ence in  Palestine ;  their  Order  was  confirmed  by  Pope 
Celestine  Ilf  (1191-8),  and  in  1220  Honorius  III 
gave  them  the  same  pri^•ileges  as  were  enjoyed  by  the 
Hospitallers  and  Templars.  Their  organisation  was 
similar  to  that  of  the  older  Orders.  Their  prosperity 
was  chiefly  due  to  the  tliird  Grand  Master,  Herman 
von  Salza,  the  good  genius  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II, 
and  a  great  power  in  Europe.  Under  him  the  Order 
transferred  itself  to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  where  it 
carried  on  a  crusade  against  the  heathen  Prussians, 
and  here  it  united  in  1237  with  another  knightly 
Order,  the  P)rethren  of  the  Sword,  which  had  been 
founded  in  1202  by  the  Bishop  of  Livonia  for  similar 
work  against  tlie  heathen  inhabitants  of  that  country. 

The  Knights  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Thomas  of  Acre 
was  a  small  English  Order  named  after  Thomas  P)ecket 
Other  and    founded    in    the    thirteenth    century, 

military  Tliey,  together  with  those  already  men- 
Orders,  tioned  as  founded  for  work  in  Palestine, 
belonged  to  the  Canons  Kegular.  For  convenience, 
however,  mention  should  be  made  here  of  the  great 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  8i 

Spanish  Orders  which  were  atliliated  to  the  Cistercian 
monks.  These  were  founded  in  imitation  of  the  Tem- 
plars and  Hospitallers  for  similar  w^ork  against  the 
Saracens  of  the  Peninsula.  Tlie  Order  of  Calatrava, 
founded  by  a  Cistercian  abbot  when  that  city  was 
tlireatened  by  the  Saracens  in  1158,  and  the  Order  of 
St.  Julian,  founded  about  the  same  time,  which  ulti- 
mately took  its  name  from  the  captured  fortress  of 
Alcantara,  were  amenable  to  the  complete  monastic 
rule ;  while  the  Portuguese  Order  of  Evora  or  Avisa, 
founded  a  few  years  later,  was  assimilated  rather  to 
the  lay  brethren  of  the  Cistercians,  and  its  members 
could  marry  and  hold  property.  There  was  one  of  the 
Spanish  Orders,  however,  which  was  not  connected 
with  the  Cistercians.  The  Knights  of  St.  James  of 
Compostella  originated  in  1161  for  the  protection  of 
pilgrims  to  the  shrine  of  Compostella.  Their  rule  was 
confirmed  by  Alexander  III  in  1175,  and  the  Order  of 
Santiago  became  the  most  famous  of  the  military 
Orders  in  the  Peninsula. 

The  revival  and  reorganisation  of  the  common  life 
among  cathedral  and  collegiate  bodies  roused  the  jea- 
lousy of  the  monastic  houses.     The  absolute    m^w 
superiority  of  the  monastic  life  over  any    Monastic 
other  was  an  article  of  faith  to  which  the    O^^^^s. 
obvious  interests  of  the  monks  could  allow  no  qualifica- 
tion ;  and  the  close  imitation  of  the  monastic  model 
adopted  by  the  Regular  Canons  was  sufficient  proof 
that  the  Church  generally  acquiesced  in  this   view. 
The  great  reform  movement  of  the  eleventh  century 
had  emanated  from  the  monks  of  Cluny ;  but  just  as 
the  degradation  of  the  monastic  ideal  by  the  Benedic- 
tines had  called  into  existence  the  Order  of   Cluny 

G 


82  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

with  its  reformed  Benedictine  rule,  so  now  the  faihire 
of  the  Cluniacs  to  live  up  to  the  expectations  and  to 
minister  to  the  needs  of  tlie  most  fervent  religious 
spirits  caused  the  foundation  of  a  number  of  new 
Orders.  In  each  such  case  the  founder  and  his  first 
followers  strove,  by  the  austerities  of  their  personal 
lives  and  by  the  severity  of  the  rule  which  they 
enjoined,  to  embody  and  to  maintain  at  the  highest 
level  that  ideal  of  contemplative  asceticism  which  was 
the  object  of  the  monastic  life.  Such  was  the  origin  of 
the  Order  of  Grammont  (1074)  and  of  Fontevraud 
(1094)  and  of  the  better  known  Orders  of  the  Carthu- 
sians (1084)  and  the  Cistercians  (1098). 

Thus  Stephen,  the  fuunder  of  the  Order  of  Gram- 
mont, was  the  son  of  a  noble  of  Auvergne,  wlio,  in 
the  course  of  a  journey  in  Calabria,  w^as  so 
impressed  by  the  life  of  the  hermits  with 
which  the  mountainous  districts  abounded,  that  he 
resolved  to  reproduce  it,  and  lived  for  fifty  years  near 
Limoges,  subjecting  himself  to  such  rigorous  devo- 
tional exercises  that  his  knees  became  (piite  hard  and 
his  nose  permanently  bent!  Crregory  VIE  sanctioned 
the  formation  of  an  Order,  but  Stephen  and  liis  first 
followers  called  themselves  simply  hoiii  homines. 
After  his  death  the  monastery  was  removed  to  Gram- 
mont close  by,  and  a  severe  rule  continued  to  be 
practised ;  but  the  management  of  the  concerns  of 
the  house  was  in  the  liands,  not  of  the  monks,  but  of 
lay  Ijrethren,  who  began  even  to  interfere  in  spiritual 
matters,  and  the  Order  ceased  to  spread. 

Tlie  founder  of  tlie  Cartliusians,  Bruno,  a  native  of 
Kohl,  but  master  of  tlie  Cathedral  scliool  at  Klieims, 
also   took   tlie   eremitic    life    as    his    model    for   the 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  83 

individual.    To  tliis  end  he  plairted  lii.s  monastery  near 
Grenoble,  in  the  wild  solitude  of  the  Chartreuse,  which 
gave  its  name  to  the  whole  Order  and  to 
each  individual   house.      In   addition   to  a     .^    "" 

SlSLtlS 

very  rigorous  form  of  asceticism  his  rule 
imposed  on  tlie  members  an  almost  perpetual  silence. 
The  centre  of  the  life  of  the  Carthusian  monk  was 
not  the  cloister,  but  the  cell  whicli  to  each  individual 
was,  except  on  Sundays  and  festivals,  at  the  same 
time  chapel,  dormitory,  refectory,  and  study.  The 
Carthusian  rule  has  been  described  as  "  Cenobitism 
reduced  to  its  simplest  expression " ;  but  despite 
the  growing  wealth  of  the  Order,  the  rigour  of 
the  life  w^as  well  maintained,  and  of  all  the  mon- 
astic bodies  it  was  the  least  subjected  to  criticism 
and  satire. 

A   different^    type    of    founder    is    represented    by 
Robert  of    Arbrissel,  in  Brittany,  who,  although  he 
attracted  disciples  by  the  severity  of   his 
life  as  a  liermit,  was  really  a  great  popular      °"  ,^' 
preacher,  whose  words  soon  came  to  be  at- 
tested by  miracles.     He   was   especially  effective  in 
dealing  with  fallen  women,  and  the  monastery  which 
he  established  at  Fontevraud,  in  the  diocese  of  Poitiers, 
was  a  double  house,  men  and  women  living  in  two 
adjacent  cloisters ;  but  the  monks  were    little  more 
than  the  chaplains  and  the  managers  of  the  monastic 
revenues,  and  at  the  head  of   the  whole  house  and 
Order  the  founder  placed  an  Abbess  as  his  successor. 
The  rule  of  this  Order  imposed  on  the  female  mem- 
bers absolute  silence  except  in  the  chapter- house. 

The  foundation  of  these  Orders,  greater  or  less,  did 
not  exhaust  the  impetus  in  favour  of    monasticism. 


84     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Sinule  liouses  and  smaller  Orders  were  founded 
during  tlie  twelfth  and  tliirteenth  centuries,  of  whicli 
Cliiniac  iiiany  attained  a  merely  local  importance. 
Congrega-  The  coniniun  feature  of  the  great  Orders 
tion.  -^vas  that  each  of  them  formed  a  Congrega- 

tion, that  is  to  say,  an  ac'^re^ate  of  numerous  houses 
scattered  over  many  lands,  but  following  the  same 
rule  and  acknowledu;in(^  some  sort  of  alle^'iance  to  the 
ori^rinal  liome  of  the  Order.  The  invention  of  this 
model  was  due  to  Cluny,  although  even  among  the 
Cluniacs  the  organisation  of  the  Congregation,  with 
its  system  of  visiting  inspectors  who  reported  on  the 
condition  of  the  monasteries  to  an  annual  Chapter- 
General  meeting  at  Cluny,  was  not  completed  until 
the  thirteenth  century.  From  the  first,  however,  the 
Abbot  of  Cluny  was  a  despot ;  \Yith  the  exception  of 
the  heads  of  some  monasteries  which  became  afliliated 
to  the  Order  he  was  the  only  al)bot,  the  ruler  of  the 
CTuniac  house  being  merely  a  prior.  All  the  early 
abbots  were  men  of  mark,  who  were  afterwards 
canonised  by  the  Church.  The  fourth  abbot  refused 
the  Papacy  ;  but  Gregory  VII,  Urban  II,  and  Pascal  II 
were  all  CTuniac  monks.  The  real  greatness  of  the 
Order  was  due  to  its  fiftli  and  sixth  abbots,  Odilo 
who  ruled  from  994  to  1049,  and  Hugh  who  held  the 
reins  of  office  for  an  even  longer  period  (1049-1109); 
while  the  fame  of  the  Order  culminated  under  Peter 
the  Venerable,  the  contemporary  of  St.  Pernard. 

But  the  liistory  of    the  abbot   who   came   between 

Hugh    and   Peter   shows   the   strange  vicissitudes   to 

which  even  the  greatest  monasteries  niiglit 

^^  ^*     be  subjected.     Pontius  was  godson  of  Pope 

Pascal   II,  who    sent  to  the  newly  elected  abbot  his 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  85 


own  dalmatic.  Calixtus  II  visited  Cluiiy,  and  while  re- 
affirming the  privileges  granted  by  his  predecessors, 
such  as  the  freedom  of  Cluniac  houses  from  visitation 
by  the  local  bishop,  he  made  the  Abbot  of  Cluny 
ex  officio  a  Cardinal  of  the  lioman  Church,  and  allowed 
that  when  tlie  rest  of  the  land  was  under  an  interdict 
the  monks  of  Cluny  might  celebrate  Mass  within 
the  closed  doors  of  their  chapels.  But  as  a  conse- 
quence of  these  distinctions  Pontius'  conduct  became 
so  unbearable  as  to  cause  loud  complaints  from  ecclesi- 
astics of  every  rank.  Ultimately  the  Pope  inter- 
vened and  persuaded  Pontius  to  resign  the  abbacy 
and  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine.  Meanwhile 
another  abbot  was  appointed.  But  Pontius  returned, 
gathered  an  armed  band,  and  got  forcible  possession 
of  Cluny,  wliich  he  proceeded  to  despoil.  Again  the 
Pope,  Honorius  II,  interfered,  and  Pontius  was  dis- 
posed of. 

But  such  an  episode  was  only  too  characteristic  of 
the  decay  which  seemed  inevitably  to  fall  on  each  of 
the  monastic  Orders.    The  wealth  and  privi-    ^^.j^j  -^j^ 
leges  of  Cluny  made  its  failure  all  the  more    of  St. 
conspicuous.     A  few  years  after  the  expul-    Bernard, 
sion  of  Pontius,  St.  Bernard  wrote  to  tlie  Abbot  of 
the  Cluniac  house  of  St.  Thierry  a  so-called  apology, 
which,  while  professing  a  great  regard  for  the  Cluniac 
Order  and  pretending  to  criticise  the  deficiencies  of 
his   own  Cistercians,  is  in   reality  a   scathing  attack 
upon  the  lapse  of    the  former  from  tlie  Benedictine 
rule.     He  attacks  their  neglect  of  manual  work  and 
of   the  rule  of    silence:  their  elaborate  cookery  and 
nice   taste  in  wines :  their   interest   in    the   cut  and 
material  of  their  clothes  and  the  luxury  of  their  bed 


86     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 


coverlets :  the  extravagance  of  the  furniture  in  their 
chapels,  and  even  the  grotesque  architecture  of  their 
buildings.  He  especially  censures  the  magnificent 
state  in  wliich  the  abbots  live  and  with  which  they 
travel  about,  and  he  declares  himself  emphatically 
against  that  exemption  of  monasteries  from  episcopal 
control  which  was  one  of  the  most  prized  privileges 
of  the  Cluniac  Order.  Something  may  perhaps  be 
allowed  for  exaii:^eration  in  this  attack ;  but  that 
there  was  no  serious  overstatement  is  clear  from  the 
letters  written  some  years  later  by  Peter  the  Vener- 
able to  St.  Bernard,  in  answer  to  the  accusations  made 
by  the  Cistercians  in  general.  He  justifies  the  de- 
parture from  the  strict  Benedictine  rule  partly  on  the 
ground  of  its  severity,  partly  because  of  its  unsuit- 
ability  to  the  climate;  but  his  defence  clearly  shows 
how  far,  even  under  so  admirable  a  ruler,  the  Cluniacs 
had  fallen  away  from  the  monastic  ideal. 

The    Cistercian    Order,    no    less    than    the    Orders 
already  mentioned,  owed  its  origin  to  tlie  desire  to 
revive    tlie    primitive  monastic    rule    from 
Cistercians,  which  the  Cluniacs  had  fallen  away.     The 
wonderful  success  which  it  met  with  made 
it  the  chief  rival  of  that  Order.     The  parent  monas- 
tery of  Citeaux,  near  Dijon,  was  founded  by  Bobert 
of    Molesme    in    1098    under    the   patronage   of   the 
Duke   of  Burgundy.     But  the  monks   kept  the  rule 
of   St.   Benedict   in    the   strictest   manner,   and   their 
numbers   remained   small.     In    1113,   however,    they 
were  joined  by  the  youthful  Bernard,  the  son  of   a 
Burgundian  kniglit,  together  with  about  thirty  friends 
of  like  mind,  whom  he  had  already  collected  with  a 
view  to  the  cloister  life.     At  once  exi)ansion  became 


CANONS   AND   MONKS  87 

not  only  possible  but  necessary,  and  the  abbot  of  the 
day,  Stephen  Harding,  by  birth  an  Englishman  from 
Sherborne  in  Dorsetshire,  sent  out  four  colonies  in 
succession,  which  founded  the  abbeys  of  La  Fertc 
(1113),  Pontigny  (1114),  Clairvaux  and  Morimond 
(1115).  The  first  general  chapter  of  the  Order  was 
held  in  1116 :  the  scheme  of  organisation  drawn  up 
by  Stephen  Harding  w^as  embodied  in  Carta  Cari- 
tatis,  the  Charter  of  Love,  and  received  the  papal 
sanction  in  1119.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  (1151) 
more  than  five  hundred  monasteries  were  represented 
at  the  general  chapter,  and  despite  the  resolution  to 
admit  no  more  houses,  the  number  continued  to  in- 
crease until  the  whole  Order  must  have  contained 
upwards  of  two  thousand. 

The  entire  organisation  of  the  Cistercian  Order 
made  it  a  strong  contrast  to  the  Cluniacs,  both  in  the 
mode  of  life  of  its  members  and  in  the 
method  of  government.  The  Cluniacs  had  j^°^^  °^ 
become  wealthy  and  luxurious  :  their  black 
dress,  the  symbol  of  humility,  had  become  rather  a 
mark  of  hypocrisy.  In  order  to  guard  against  these 
snares  the  Cistercians,  to  the  wrath  of  the  other 
monastic  Orders,  adopted  a  white  habit  indicative  of 
the  joy  which  should  attend  devotion  to  God's  service. 
Their  monasteries,  all  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  were  built  in  lonely  places,  where  they  would 
have  no  opportunity  to  engage  in  parochial  work. 
This  indeed  was  strictly  forbidden  them  as  detracting 
from  the  contemplative  life  which  should  be  the  ideal 
of  the  Cistercian.  For  the  same  reason  they  were 
forbidden  to  accept  gifts  of  churches  or  tithes.  The 
monastic  buildings,  including  the  chapel,  were  to  be 


88  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 


of  the  simple.st  description,  without  paintings,  sculp- 
ture, or  stained  glass ;  and  the  ritual  used  at  the 
services  was  in  keeping  with  this  bareness.  The 
arrangements  of  the  refectory  and  the  dormitory  were 
equally  meagre.  Hard  manual  work,  strict  silence, 
and  one  daily  meal  gave  tlie  inmates  every  oppor- 
tunity of  conquering  their  bodily  appetites. 

The   method   of  government  adopted  for  the  Cis- 
tercian Order  is  also  a  contrast  by  imitation  of  the 
Cluniac  arrangements.     It  was  an  essential 
Organisa-     p^jj^i^   i\^^^   ^  Cistercian  house   should   be 

subject  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  in 
which  it  was  situated.  The  episcopal  leave  was  asked 
before  a  house  was  founded,  and  a  Cistercian  abbot 
took  an  oath  of  obedience  to  the  local  bishop.  The 
actual  organisation  of  the  whole  Order  may  be 
described  as  aristocratic  in  contrast  with  the  des- 
potism of  the  Abbot  of  Cluny.  The  Abbot  of 
Citeaux  was  subject  to  the  visitation  and  correction 
of  the  abbots  of  the  four  daughter  houses  mentioned 
above,  wliile  he  in  turn  visited  them ;  and  each  of 
tliem  kept  a  similar  surveillance  over  the  houses 
which  liad  sprung  from  their  houses.  In  addition  to  this 
sclieme  of  inspection,  an  annual  general  chapter  met 
at  Citeaux.  The  abbots  of  all  the  houses  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy  were  expected  to  appear  every 
year ;  but  from  remoter  lands  attendance  was  demanded 
only  once  in  three,  four,  five,  or  even  seven  years. 

The  Cistercians  certainly  wrested  the  lead  of  the 
monastic  world  from  Cluny,  and  until  the  advent  of 

_  tlie  Friars  no  other  Order  rivalled  them  in 

Occav 

popularity.     Jjut  no  more  than  any  other 

Order  were  they  exempt  from  the  evils  of  popularity. 


CANONS    AND    MONKS  89 

The  very  deserts  in  which  they  placed  themselves  for 
protection,  and  the  agricultural  work  with  which  tliey 
occupied  their  hands,  brought  them  the  corrupting 
wealth ;  in  England  they  were  the  owners  of  the 
largest  Hocks  of  sheep  which  produced  the  raw 
material  for  the  staple  trade  of  the  country.  They 
accepted  ecclesiastical  dignities ;  they  became  luxu- 
rious and  magnificent  in  their  manner  of  life ; 
they  strove  for  independence  of  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  until  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century  one  of  their  own  abbots  quotes  against  them 
the  saying  that  "among  the  monks  of  the  Cistercian 
Order  whatever  is  pleasing  is  lawful,  whatever  is  lawful 
is  possible,  whatever  is  possible  is  done/' 

This  degeneracy  of  the  monastic  Orders  was  due  in 
no  small  measure  to  the  policy  of  the  Papacy.     The 
monasteries,  in  their  desire  to  shake  them- 
selves  free    from    the    iurisdiction    of    the       .^^^ 

privilc2fcs. 
bishop   of  the  diocese,  appealed  to  Eome ; 

and  the  Pope,  in  pursuit  of  his  policy  of  superseding 
the^l^al  authorities,  encouraged  the  monks  to  regard ^/fk. 
themselves  as  a  kind  of  papal  militia.     Ihnsi-from  the 
time  of  Gregory  YII,  at  all  events,  all  kinds  of  ex 
em]3tions   and   privileges   were   gifted  to  the  mon 
astic  communities  in  general  and  to  the  abbots  of  the 
greater   houses   m  particulai^T^xemption   from   the 
visitation   of  the   local  bishop   was  one  of   the  most 
frequent  grants,  until   the  great   Orders  became   too 
powerful  to  be  afraid  of  any  interference.    This  carried 
with  it  the   right  of   jurisdiction   ])y   the   abbot  and 
general    chapter    over    all    churches    to    whicli    the 
monastic  body  had  the  right  of  presentation.     This 
was  an  increasingly  serious  matter,  for  pious  donors 


90     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

were  constantly  bequeatliing  churches  and  tithes  to 
favourite  Orders  and  popular  houses,  and  the  abbot 
attempted  with  considerable  success  to  usurp  the 
definitely  episcopal  authority  by  instituting  the  parish 
priest.  Nor  was  this  the  only  matter  in  which  the 
abbot  substituted  himself  for  the  bishop.  The  mon- 
astic community  might  build  a  church  without  any 
reference  to  the  local  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  the 
abbot  might  consecrate  it  and  any  altar  in  it.  It  is 
true  that  if  any  monk  of  the  house  or  secular  clergy- 
man serving  one  of  the  churches  in  the  gift  of  the 
house  desired  ordination  to  any  step  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical hierarchy,  the  abbot  was  limited  to  choosing  a 
bishop  who  might  be  asked  to  perform  the  duty ;  but 
in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  some 
cases  at  least,  the  Popes  gave  to  certain  abbots  the 
privilege  of  advancing  candidates  to  the  minor 
Orders.  Probably  Gregory  YII  began  the  grants  of 
insignia  which  marked  the  episcopal  office  to 
abbots  of  important  houses.  The  Abbot  of  St. 
Maximin  in  Trier  certainly  obtained  from  him  per- 
mission to  wear  a  mitre  and  episcopal  gloves.  Urban 
II  granted  to  the  Abbot  of  Cluny  the  right  to  appear 
in  a  dalmatic  with  a  mitre  and  episcopal  sandals  and 


gloves. 


Wliat   could   be   gained   by    favour   could   also   be 

obtained   by    payment    or   claimed   by    forgery.     The 

expenses  of  the  Poman  Curia  increased ;  tlie 

Forged         monastic  Orders  were  wealthy.     Moreover, 

claims. 

tlie  critical  faculty  was  slightly  developed. 

Certain  monasteries  became  notorious  for  tlie  manu- 
facture of  documents  in  their  own  favour,  St.  Augus- 
tine's  at  Canterbury  being  especially  bad  ofl'enders ; 


CANONS   AND    MONKS  91 

and  certain  individnals  from  time  to  time  supplied 
such  material  to  all  monasteries  which  would  pay  for 
them ;  while,  finally,  in  return  for  well-bestowed  gifts, 
the  Eoman  Curia  was  often  willing  to  recognise  the 
authenticity  of  a  spurious  claim. 


CHAPTER    VI 
ST.    BERNAllD 

CALLXTUS  II  died  in  December,  1124,  and  in  a 
few  months  (May,  1125)  Henry  V  followed  him  to 

tlie  grave.  The  imperial  party  at  Kome 
Honorius      j^^^  disappeared,  but,  on    the   other  hand, 

Calixtus  had  established  only  a  truce  be- 
tween the  Roman  factions.  The  Frangipani  and  Pier- 
leoni  families  each  nominated  a  successor  to  him,  but 
the  former  forcibly  placed  their  candidate  in  the  papal 
chair.  The  six  years  of  the  pontificate  of  Honorius  II 
(1124-30)  are  unimportant. 

It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  the  Papacy  that  the 
allegiance    of    Germany    was    also     divided.     Witli 

Henry  Y  expired  the  male  line  of  tlie 
Lothairll.  ^g^Yhm  or  Franconian  House.  He  had  in- 
tended to  secure  tlie  succession  for  his  nephew, 
Frederick  the  One  -  eyed,  Duke  of  Suabia  and 
head  of  the  family  of  Hohenstaufen.  But  the  anti- 
Franconian  party  procured  the  election  of  Lothair, 
Duke  of  Saxony,  who  had  built  up  for  himself  a 
practically  independent  territorial  power  on  the 
north-eastern  side  of  Germanv,  and  liad  taken  a 
prominent  part  in  opposition  to  Henry  \. 

Lotliair's  election,  tlien,  was  a  triumpli  for  tlie 
Papacy,  and  the  Church  party  could  not  let  pass  so 
good   an   opportunity    of    revising    the    relations    of 

92 


ST.    BERNARD  93 


State  and  Church  in  Germany.  They  had  maintained 
from  the  first  that  the  Concordat  of  Worms  was  a 
personal  arrangement  between  Calixtus  II  Lothair 
and  Henry  V.  But  the  exact  nature  of  and  the 
Lothair's  promise  on  election  is  a  matter  of  Concordat, 
great  dispute.  According  to  the  account  of  an  anony- 
mous writer,  he  undertook  that  the  Church  should 
exercise  entire  freedom  in  episcopal  elections  without 
being  controlled,  "  as  formerly  "  (an  obvious  reference 
to  the  Concordat  of  Worms),  by  the  presence  of  the 
lay  power  or  by  a  recommendation  from  it,  and  that 
after  the  consecration  (not  before,  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  Concordat)  the  Emperor  should,  without 
any  payment,  invest  the^  prelate  with  the  regalia 
by  the  sceptre  and  should  receive  his  oath  of  fealty 
"  saving  his  Order."  Lothair's  actual  conduct,  how- 
ever, in  the  matter  of  appointments  seems  to  have 
been  guided  by  the  terms  of  the  Concordat. 

Frederick    of   Hohenstaufen  did   homag;e  with    the 
rest  of   the   nobles    to  Lothair,  but  not   unnaturally 

Lothair    distrusted    him.     Frederick    was    »    ^u  • 

Lothair 

heir  to  all  the  allodial  possessions   of   the    and  the 
late  Emperor;  but  Lothair  persuaded  the    Hohen- 
diet    to   a  decision  which  would  have   de-    ^^^"^^"• 
prived  Frederick  of  a  large  portion  of  these,  and  thus 
have  rendered  him  and  his  house  practically  innocuous. 
When  Frederick  refused  to  accept  this  decision  he  was 
put  to  the  ban  of   the  Empire.     The  Hohenstaufen 
party  challenged  Lothair's  title  to  the  throne,  and  put 
up   as    their   candidate   Frederick's    younger   brother 
Conrad,  Duke  of  Franconia,  who,  having  been  absent 
in    Palestine,   had    never   done    homage    to    Lothair. 
Conrad  was  crowned  King  in  Italy,  but  he  was  ex- 


94  THE  CHURCH    AND  THE   EMIGRE 

communicated  by  rope  Honorius,  and  neitlier  in  Ger- 
many nor  in  Italy  did  the  Holienstaufen  cause 
advance. 

Meanwhile  a  crisis  at  Kome  quite  overshadowed  the 
German  disputes.  Honorius  II  died  in  February, 
Schism  1130.  Immediately  the  party  of  the  Fran- 
in  the  gipani,  who  had  stood  around  him,  met  and 

Papacy.  proclaimed  a  successor  as  Innocent  II. 
This  was  irregular,  and  in  any  case  the  act  was  that  of 
a  minority  of  the  Cardinals.  It  must  have  been,  there- 
fore, w4th  some  confidence  in  the  justice  of  their  cause 
tliat  the  opposition  party  met  at  a  later  hour,  and  by 
the  votes  of  a  majority  of  tlie  College  of  Cardinals 
elected  the  Cardinal  Peter  Leonis,  the  grandson  of  a 
converted  Jew  and  formerly  a  monk  of  Cluny,  as 
Anacletus  11.  There  was  no  question  of  principle 
at  stake ;  it  was  a  mere  struggle  of  factions.  The 
partisans  of  Innocent  charged  Anacletus  with  the 
most  heinous  crimes.  Clearly  lie  was  ambitious  and 
able,  wealtliy  and  unscrupulous.  Moreover,  for  the 
moment  he  was  successful.  By  whatever  means,  he 
gradually  won  the  whole  of  Home ;  and  Innocent, 
deserted,  made  his  way  by  Pisa  and  Genoa  to  Bur- 
gundy, and  so  to  France.  His  reception  by  tlie  Abbey 
of  Cluny  was  a  great  strength  to  his  cause,  and  he 
tliere  consecrated  the  new  church,  which  had  been 
forty  years  in  building  and  was  larger  than  any 
cliurch  vet  erected  in  France.  In  order  tliat  the 
scliism  in  the  Papacy  sliould  not  be  reproduced  in 
every  bishopric  and  abbey  of  liis  kingdom,  Louis  VI 
of  France  summoned  a  Council  at  Etampes,  near  Paris, 
wliicli  sliould  decide  between  the  respective  merits*  of 
the  rival  Popes. 


ST.    BERNARD  95 


To  this  Council  a  special  invitation  was  sent  to  the 
great  monk  who  for  the  next  twenty  years  dominates 
the  AVestern  Clnirch  and  completely  over-  ggi-nard 
shadows  the  contemporary  Popes.  We  have  of 
seen  that  it  was  the  advent  of  Bernard  and  Clairvaux. 
his  large  party  at  the  monastery  of  Citeaux  in  1113 
that  saved  the  newly  founded  Order  from  premature 
collapse.  Although  only  twenty-four  years  of  age, 
Bernard  was  entrusted  with  the  third  of  the  parties 
sent  forth  in  succession  to  seek  new  homes  for  the 
Order,  and  he  and  his  twelve  companions  settled  in  a 
gloomy  valley  in  the  northernmost  corner  of  Burgundy, 
which  was  henceforth  to  be  known  as  Clairvaux.  Here 
the  hardships  suffered  by  the  monks  in  their  mainten- 
ance of  the  strict  Benedictine  rule  and  the  entire 
mastery  over  his  bodily  senses  obtained  by  their  young 
abbot  built  up  a  reputation  which  reacted  on  the 
whole  body  of  the  Cistercians,  and  soon  made  them 
the  most  revered  and  widespread  of  all  the  monastic 
Orders.  Bernard  himself  became  the  unconscious 
worker  of  many  miracles :  he  was  the  friend  and 
adviser  of  great  potentates  in  Church  and  State,  and 
without  the  least  effort  on  his  own  part  he  was  gradu- 
ally acquiring  a  position  as  the  arbiter  of  Christendom. 

As  yet  he  had  confined  his  interferences  in  secular 
matters  to  the  kingdom  of  France  and  some  of  its  great 
fiefs ;  he  had  rebuked  the  King  of  France    ^ccept- 
for  persecution  of  two  bishops ;  he  had  re-    ance  of 
monstrated  witli  the  Count  of  Champagne    Innocent 
for  cruelty  to  a  vassal.     Now  he  was  called 
upon  to  intervene  for  the  first  time  in  a  matter  of 
European   importance.      The   whole   question  of   the 
papal  election  was  submitted  to  his  judgment,  and  his 


THK    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMriUE 


clear  decision  in  favour  of  Innocent  carried  the  allegi- 
ance of  France.     Advocates  of  Innocent  could  not  b.ise 
liis  claims  on  legal  right,  and  Bernard  led  the  way  in 
asserting  his  superiority  in  personal  merit  over  his  rival. 
At  Chartres  Innocent  met  Henry  I  of  England  and 
Xormandy,  and  again  it  was  Bernard's  eloquence  whicli 
won  Henry's  adhesion.     A  Synod  of  German  clergy  at 
Wiirzburg  acknowledged  Innocent,  and  Lothair  accepted 
the  decision.     But  when   Innocent  met  the  German 
King  at  Liege  in  March,  1131,  fortunately  for  the  Pope 
Bernard  was  still  by  his  side.     It  is  true  tliat  Lothair 
stooped  to  i;)lay  the  part  of   papal  groom,  which  had 
been  played  only  by  Conrad,  the  rebellious  son   of 
Henry  IV;  that  he  and  his  wife  were  both  crowned 
by  the  Pope  in  the  catliedral ;  and  that  he  promised  to 
lead  the  Pope  back  to  Home.     But  in  return  for  his 
services  Lothair  tried  to  use  his  opportunity  for  going 
back  upon  the  Concordat  and  claiming  the  restoration 
of  the  right  of  investiture.     Bernard,  however,  came  to 
the  help  of  the  Pope,  and,  backed  by  the  general  indig- 
nation and  alarm  at  the  meanness  of  Lothair's  conduct, 
forced  the  Emperor  to  withdraw  his  demands.     Inno- 
cent spent  some  time  longer  in  France,  among  other 
places  visiting  Clairvaux,  where  the  hard  life  of  the 
inmates   filled   him    and    his    Italian    followers   with 
astonishment. 

Throughout  these  wanderings  since  the  Council  of 
Etampes  Bernard  had  been  the  constant  companion 
of  the  Pope,  and  had  ultimately  become  not  merely 
his  most  trusted  but  practically  his  only  counsellor. 
As  a  matter  of  form  questions  were  submitted  to  the 
Cardinals,  but  no  action  was  taken  until  Bernard's 
view  had  been  ascertained.     In  April,  1132,  Innocent 


ST.    BERNARD  97 


once  more  appeared  in  Italy.  Meanwhile  Anacletus, 
having  failed  to  obtain  the  support  of  any  of  the  great 
moiiarchs  of  the  West,  turned  to  the  Normans,  and  by 
the  grant  of  the  royal  title  gained  the  allegiance 
of  Eoger,  Duke  of  Apulia  and  Count  of  Sicily.  A  few 
other  parts  of  Europe  still  acknowledged  Anacletus. 
Scotland  was  too  distant  to  be  troubled  by  Bernard's 
influence ;  but  in  Lombardy  the  great  abbot  worked 
indefatigably ;  and  the  Archbishop  of  Milan,  who  had 
accepted  his  pallium  from  Anacletus,  was  driven  out 
by  the  citizens,  who  subsequently  welcomed  Bernard 
with  enthusiasm  and  tried  to  keep  him  as  their  arch- 
bishop. Duke  William  X  of  Aquitaine  also  continued 
to  acknowledge  Anacletus,  and  when  at  length  Bernard 
accompanied  the  legate  of  Innocent  to  a  conference  at  JLc*- 
his  court,  the  saint  had  recourse  to  all  the  methods  of 
ecclesiastical  terrorism  at  his  command  before  he  gained 
the  fearful  acquiescence  of  the  ruler.  j 

At  length  Lothair  felt  himself  sufficiently  free  to 
fulfil  his  promise  to  Innocent.     But  the  turbulent  con- 
dition   of    Germany   prevented    him    from 
bringing  a  force  of  any  size,  and,  despite  the     ^-o^^^ 
vehement  eloquence  of  Bernard,  among  the 
cities  of  Lombardy  and  Tuscany  the  friend  of  Innocent 
was  still  the  German  King  and  was  viewed  with  much 
suspicion.     Fortunately,  however,  Roger  of  Sicily,  the 
one  strong  supporter  of  Anacletus,  was  engaged  in  a 
struggle  with  his  nobles  and  could  give  no  help.     But 
Lothair  desired  to  avoid  bloodshed  if  possible.    He  made 
no  attempt,  therefore,  to  get  possession  of  St.  Peter's 
and  the   Leonine  city,  which  were  in   the  hands  of 
Anacletus  and  his  followers,  but  contented  himself  with 
the  peaceful  occupation  of  the  rest  of  Rome.     He  and 

H 


98    THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPH^ 

Ills  wife  were  crowned  in  the  church  of  St.  John 
Lateran  by  Innocent  (June,  1133).  Lotliair  seems  again 
to  have  used  his  opportunity  to  attempt  a  recovery  of 
the  riglit  of  investiture  from  the  Pope ;  but  on  this 
occasion  the  opponent  of  the  Emperor  was  his  own 
favourite  counsellor,  Archbishop  Xorbert  of  Magdeburg, 
the  founder  of  the  Premonstratensian  Order.  A  few 
days  later,  however,  Innocent  published  two  bulls 
dealing  with  the  questions  at  issue  between  himself 
and  the  Emperor.  The  first  merely  confirms  the 
arrangements  of  tlie  Concordat,  although  it  certainly 
omits  all  mention  of  the  presence  of  the  King  at  the 
election.  The  second  bull  deals  with  the  inheritance 
of  the  Countess  Matilda.  Henry  V  had  never  recog- 
nised the  donation  of  the  Countess  to  the  Papacy,  and 
consequently,  as  a  lapsed  fief  and  part  of  the  late 
Emperor's  possessions,  the  lands  could  be  claimed  by 
his  Hohenstaufen  heirs.  This  perhaps  accounts  for 
Lothair's  readiness  to  accept  the  conditions  imposed 
by  the  Pope.  Innocent  invested  him  by  a  ring  with 
the  allodial  or  freehold  lands  of  the  Countess  in  return 
for  an  annual  tribute  and  on  the  understanding  that  at 
Lothair's  death  they  should  revert  to  tlie  Papacy. 
Lotliair  took  no  oath  of  fealty  for  them,  but  such  oath 
was  exacted  from  his  son-in-law,  Henry  the  Proud  of 
Bavaria,  to  wdiom  the  inheritance  was  made  over  on 
the  same  conditions.  Lothair  had  perhaps  saved  the 
much-coveted  lands  from  being  lawfully  claimed  by 
the  Hohenstaufen ;  but  it  was  the  Pope  who  liad  really 
gained  Ijy  tliese  transactions,  for  he  had  obtained  from 
a  lawfully  crowned  Emperor  the  recognition  of  the 
papal  right  to  their  possession.  Indeed,  the  whole 
episode  of  Lothair's  coronation  was  treated  as  a  papal 


ST.    BERNARD 


99 


triumph,  and  by  Innocent's  direction  a  picture  was 
placed  in  the  Lateran  palace  in  which  Lothair  was 
represented  as  kneeling  before  the  throned  Pope  to 
receive  the  imperial  crown,  while  underneath  was 
inscribed  the  foUowins'  disticli : — 

"  Rex  stetit  ante  fores,  juraiis  prius  url)is  honores, 
Post  homo  fit  papae,  sumit  quo  dante  coronam." 

Lothair,  however,  never  saw  this  record  of  his  visit. 
He  returned  to  Germany,  having  secured,  at  any  rate 
for  himself,  the  riglit  of  investing  his  ecclesiastics  with 
their  temporalities,  the  lands  of  the  Countess  Matilda, 
and,  most  important  of  all,  the  imperial  crown  be- 
stowed at  Ptome  by  a  Pope  who  was  recognised  prac- 
tically throughout  the  West.  So  strengthened,  he 
intended  to  crush  the  still  opposing  Hohenstaufen. 
P)ut  the  intercessions  of  his  own  Empress  and  the  papal 
legates  were  backed  up  by  the  fiery  eloquence  of  the 
all-powerful  Bernard,  who  appeared  at  the  Diet  of 
Bamberg  (March,  1135).  Lothair  was  overruled  and 
terms  were  granted,  which  first  Frederick  of  Suabia 
and,  later  on,  Conrad  were  induced  to  accept.  Fred- 
erick confined  himself  to  Suabia,  but  Conrad  attached 
himself  to  Lothair's  Court,  and  became  one  of  the 
Emperor's  most  honoured  followers. 

After  Lothair's  return  to  Germany,  Eoger  of  Sicily 
gradually  recovered  his  authority  in  Southern  Italy, 
and  he  even  made  use  of  his  championship  of  Ana- 
cletus  to  annex  unopposed  some  of  the  papal  lands. 
Finally,  to  the  scandal  of  Christendom,  the  abbey  of 
Monte  Cassino,  the  premier  monastery  of  the  West, 
declared  for  Anacletus.  Both  Innocent  and  the  Nor- 
man foes  of  Eoger  appealed  to  Lothair,  who  crossed 
the  Alps,  for  a  second  time,  in  August,  1136,  this  time, 


loo        THE    CHURCH    AND    THE   EMPIRE 


accompanied  by  a  sufficient  force.  He  did  not  delay 
long  in  Lombardy :  he  ignored  Eome,  which  apart 
from  Koger  was  powerless.  One  army,  under  Lothair, 
moved  down  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic;  another,  under 
Henry  of  Bavaria,  along  the  west  coast.  The  Heets 
of  Genoa  and  Pisa  co-operated,  and  Eoger  retired  into 
Sicily.  But  both  Emperor  and  Pope  claimed  the 
conquered  duchy  of  Apulia,  and  the  dispute  was  only 
settled  by  both  presenting  to  the  new  duke  the  ban- 
ner by  which  the  investiture  was  made.  It  did  not 
help  to  soothe  the  quarrel  when  the  recovered  monas- 
tery of  Monte  Cassino  was  handed  over  to  the  Em- 
peror's Chancellor.  Lothair  could  remain  no  longer  in 
Italy  ;  but  he  fell  ill  on  his  way  back,  and  died  in  a 
Tyrolese  village  on  December  3rd,  1138. 

Lothair  had  done  nothing  to  end  the  schism.  Inno- 
cent was  back  in  Rome,  but  Anacletus  had  never  been 
The  end  ousted  from  it.  Meanwhile,  in  the  spring 
of  the  of  1137,  Bernard  had  also  responded  to  the 

schism.  appeal  of  Innocent  and  returned  to  Italy. 
While  Lothair  was  overrunning  Apulia  Bernard  was 
winniner  over  the  adherents  of  Anacletus  in  Ptome. 
When  Lothair  retired  Roger  immediately  began  to 
recover  his  dominions ;  but  when  Bernard  made  over- 
tures to  him  on  behalf  of  Innocent,  he  professed 
himself  quite  ready  to  hear  the  arguments  on  both 
sides.  A  conference  took  i)lace  between  a  skilful 
supporter  of  Anacletus  and  this  "  rustic  abbot " ;  but 
although  Bernard  convinced  his  rhetorical  adversary, 
Roger  had  too  much  to  lose  in  acknowledging  Innocent, 
for  he  would  be  obliged  to  surrender  tlie  papal  lands 
which  he  had  occupied  and,  perhaps,  the  royal  title, 
the  gift  of  Anacletus.    The  end,  however,  was  at  hand. 


ST.   BERNARD  loi 


Less  than  two  months  after  Lothair's  death  Anacletus 
died  (January  25,  1138).  His  few  remaining  followers 
elected  a  successor,  but  this  was  more  with  the  desiro 
of  making  good  terms  than  of  prolonging  the  schism. 
Innocent  bribed  and  Bernard  persuaded,  and  the  anti- 
Pope  surrendered  of  his  own  accord.  Bernard,  to 
whom  was  rightly  ascribed  the  merit  of  ending  tlie 
scandal  of  disunion  in  Christendom,  immediately  es- 
caped from  his  admirers  and  returned  to  the  solitude 
of  Clairvaux  and  his  literary  labours.  These  were  not 
all  self-imposed.  Among  his  correspondents  were 
persons  in  all  ranks  of  life;  and  his  letters,  no  less 
than  his  formal  treatises,  prove  his  influence  as  one 
of  the  most  deeply  spiritual  teachers  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Eoger  of  Sicily  alone  had  not  accepted  Innocent ; 
but  a  foolish  attempt  to  coerce  him  ended  in  the  defeat 
and  capture  of  the  Pope.  In  return  for  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  papal  suzerainty,  which  involved  oblivion  of 
the  imperial  claims.  Innocent  not  only  con- 
firmed to  Ptocrer  and  his  successors  both  his    c^°?^^  ° 

.      -,  Sicily, 

conquests  in  Southern  Italy  and  the  royal 

title,  but  even,  by  the  grant  of  the  legatine  power  to 
the  King  himself,  exempted  his  kingdom  from  the 
visits  of  papal  legates.  Eoger  was  supreme  in  Church 
and  State.  A  cruel  yet  vigorous  and  able  ruler,  he  built 
up  a  centralised  administrative  system  from  which 
Henry  II  of  England  did  not  disdain  to  take  lessons. 
His  possession  of  Sicily  carried  him  to  Malta  and 
thence  to  the  north  coast  of  Africa ;  and  before  his 
death  in  1154  Tunis  was  added  to  his  dominions.  He 
was  thus  one  of  the  greatest  among  the  early  Crusa- 
ders, and  perhaps  the  most  notable  ruler  of  his  time. 


102         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPHiE 

Lothair  lioped  to  leave  in  his  son-in-law  a  successor 
witli  irresistible  claims.  But  the  very  influence  to 
wliich  Lothair  owed  his  own  election  was 
now  to  be  cast  into  the  scale  against  the 
representative  of  his  family ;  while  the  grounds  of 
objection  to  the  succession  of  Frederick  of  Hohen- 
staufen  to  Henry  V  now  held  good  against  Henry 
of  Bavaria,  Saxony,  and  Tuscany.  The  Pope  and 
the  German  nobles  were  equally  afraid  of  a  ruler 
whose  insolent  demeanour  had  already  won  liim  the 
title  of  "  the  Proud."  Tliey  took  as  their  candidate 
the  lately  rejected  Hohenstaufen  Conrad,  whose  be- 
haviour since  his  submission  had  gained  him  favour 
in  proportion  as  the  conduct  of  Henry  of  Bavaria  had 
alienated  the  other  nobles.  Conrad  was  crowned  at 
Aachen  by  the  papal  legate,  and  Henry  made  his 
submission.  But  Conrad,  like  Lothair,  felt  himself 
insecure  with  so  powerful  a  subject.  Accordingly  he 
took  away  from  him  the  ducliy  of  Saxony,  and  gave 
it  to  the  heir  of  the  old  dukes  in  the  female  line. 
When  Henry  refused  to  accept  tlie  decision  Conrad 
put  him  to  the  ban  of  the  Empire  and  deprived  liim 
of  Bavaria  also,  which  he  proceeded  to  confer  upon 
a  relative  of  his  own.  But  Conrad's  obvious  attempt 
to  advance  his  own  family  oflended  tlie  nobles,  and 
the  deatli  of  Henry  tlie  l^roud  in  1139  opened 
the  way  for  a  compromise.  Saxony  was  made  over 
to  Henry's  youtliful  son,  known  in  liistory  as  Henry 
tlie  Lion,  while  Bavaria  was  to  be  the  wedding  portion 
(if  Henry  the  Proud's  widow  if  she  married  Conrad's 
relative,  who  was  already  Margrave  of  Austria. 

But  despite  this  elimination  of  all  rivals  Conrad 
was  so  much  occupied  elsewhere  that  he  never  man- 


ST.    BERNARD  103 


aged  to  reach  Italy.     And  yet  his  presence  there  was 

eagerly  desired.     It  was  under  the  guidance  of  their 

bishops  that  the    cities  of  Lombardy  had 

freed   themselves   from   subjection    to    the    ^^"° .  ° 

Brescia. 

feudal  nobles.  But  with  the  growth  of 
wealth  they  resented  the  patronage  of  the  bishops  and 
were  inclined  to  listen  to  those  who  denounced  the  tem- 
poral possessions  of  the  Church.  The  movement  spread 
to  Eome.  Here  the  municipality  still  existed  in  name, 
but  it  was  quite  overlaid  by  the  papal  prefect  and  the 
feudal  nobles  of  the  Campagna;  and  the  Eoman 
people  had  no  means  of  increasing  their  wealth  by  the 
agriculture  or  the  commerce  which  was  open  to  the 
cities  of  Tuscany  or  Lombardy.  A  leader  was  found 
in  Arnold  of  Brescia  (1138).  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  pupil  of  Abailard,  who  devoted  himself  to  practical 
reforms.  He  began  in  his  native  Lombardy  to  advo- 
cate apostolic  poverty  as  a  remedy  for  the  acknow- 
ledged evils  of  the  Church.  Condemned  by  the  second 
Lateran  Council  (1139),  he  retired  to  France,  and  in 
1140  stood  by  the  side  of  Abailard  at  the  Council  of 
Sens.  After  Abailard's  condemnation  Arnold  took 
refuge  at  Zurich,  where,  despite  the  denunciations  of 
Bernard,  he  found  protection  from  the  papal  legate, 
who  had  been  a  fellow -pupil  of  Abailard.  Arnold 
returned  to  Italy  in  1145,  and  was  absolved  by  the  Pope. 
The  course  of  affairs  in  Eome  brought  him  once  more 
to  the  front.  In  1143  Innocent  II  had  offended  the 
Eomans,  who  in  revenge  proclaimed  a  re-  -phe 
public  with  a  popularly  elected  senate  and  Roman 
a  patrician  in  place  of  the  papal  prefect.  Republic 
Innocent  died  (September,  1143);  his  successor  sur- 
vived him  by  less  than  six   months,  and   the   next 


I04         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Pope,  Lucius  II,  was  killed  in  attempting  to  get 
possession  of  the  Capitol,  which  was  the  seat  of 
the  new  government.  The  choice  of  the  Cardinals 
now  fell  upon  the  abbot  of  a  small  monastery  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Eome,  wlio  took  the  title  of  Euge- 
nius  III  (1145-53).  He  was  a  pupil  of  Bernard,  who 
feared  for  the  appointment  of  a  man  of  such  simplicity 
and  inexperience.  But  Eugenius  developed  an  un- 
expected capacity,  and  forced  the  Eomans  to  recognise 
for  a  time  his  prefect  and  his  suzerainty.  But  Arnold's 
presence  in  Kome  was  an  obstacle  to  permanent  peace. 
Both  Arnold  and  Bernard  eagerly  sought  the  same 
end — the  purification  of  tlie  Church.  But  in  Bernard's 
eyes  Arnold's  connection  with  Abailard  convicted  him 
of  heresy,  and  his  doctrine  of  apostolic  poverty  was 
construed  by  the  ascetic  abbot  of  the  strict  Cistercian 
Order  as  an  attack  upon  the  influence  under  cover 
of  the  wealth  of  the  Church.  Nor  was  Arnold  a 
republican  in  the  ordinary  sense.  He  expelled  the 
Pope  and  organised,  under  the  name  of  the  Equestrian 
order,  a  militia  of  the  lesser  nobles  and  the  more 
substantial  burgesses,  such  as  existed  in  the  cities  of 
Lombardy.  lUit  lie  did  not  desire  to  repudiate  the 
Emperor;  and  at  his  instigation  the  Romans  sum- 
moned Conrad  to  their  aid  and  to  accept  the  imperial 
crown  at  their  hands.  Eugenius  spent  almost  his 
whole  pontificate  in  exile  ;  his  successor,  Anastasius  IV, 
during  a  short  reign,  accepted  the  republic,  but  Hadrian 
IV  (1154-9)  took  tlie  first  excuse  for  boldly  placing  the 
city  for  the  first  time  under  an  interdict.  The  con- 
sequent cessation  of  pilgrims  during  Holy, Week  and 
the  loss  of  their  offerings  caused  the  fickle  Romans  to 
expel  their  champion,  and  Arnold  wandered  about  until 


ST.    BERNARD  105 


a  few  months  later  Frederick  Barbarossa  sacrificed  liim 
to  the  renewed  alliance  of  Empire  and  Papacy  (1154). 

Conrad  III,  then,  never  was  crowned  Emperor.  It 
was  no  fault  of  his  that  he  never  visited  Eome. 
Bernard's  influence  caused  him  to  postpone  The 
his  immediate  duties  for  a  w^ork  which  second 
every  Christian  of  the  time  regarded  as  Crusade, 
of  paramount  importance.  The  first  Crusade  had 
met  with  a  measure  of  success  only  because  the 
Mohammedan  powers  were  divided.  The  Crusaders 
were  organised  into  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  principalities  of  Tripoli,  Antioch,  and  Edessa. 
But  they  quarrelled  incessantly.  Meanwhile  Imad- 
ed-din  Zangi,  the  Atabek  or  Sultan  o-f  Mosul  on  the 
Tigris,  extended  his  arms  over  all  Mesopotamia  and 
Northern  Syria,  and  in  1144  he  conquered  the  Latin 
principality  of  Edessa.  The  whole  of  Europe  was 
shocked  at  the  disaster.  Pope  Eugenius  delegated  to 
Bernard  the  task  of  preaching  a  new  crusade.  The 
young  King,  Louis  VII  of  France,  had  already  taken 
the  Crusader's  vow,  but  so  far  the  earnest  entreaty 
of  his  minister,  Suger,  Abbot  of  St.  Denys,  had  kept 
him  from  his  purpose.  But  at  the  Council  of  Vezelai 
in  1146  the  eloquence  of  Bernard  bore  down  all  con- 
siderations of  prudence.  Conrad  III  w^as  much  harder 
to  persuade,  for  he  felt  the  need  of  his  presence  at 
home.  But  Bernard  was  not  to  be  denied,  and  by 
working  upon  Conrad's  feelings  at  the  moment  of  the 
celebration  of  tlie  Mass  he  entirely  overcame  the 
better  judgment  of  the  German  King. 

Events  proved  in  every  way  the  mischievous  nature 
of  Bernard's  influence.  The  Crusade  was  a  total  failure. 
Only  a  small  remnant  of  the  force  which  followed  either 


io6         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

King  reached  Palestine ;  and  the  only  offensive  opera- 
tion undertaken — an  attack  upon  Damascus — had  to 
be  abandoned.  Not]iin<:,^  had  been  done  to  break  the 
growing  power  of  Zangi's  son,  Noureddin,  the  uncle 
and  predecessor  of  the  great  Saladin. 

The  effects  were  scarcely  less  disastrous  in  AYestern 
The  di-  Europe.  Suger  supplied  Louis  with  money 
vorce  of  and  defended  his  throne  against  plots,  and 
Louis  VII.  ^iitimately  persuaded  him  to  return  to 
France.  But  during  the  Crusade  Louis  and  his  wife 
Eleanor,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  William  X  of 
Aquitaine,  had  quarrelled  bitterly.  Louis  had  disgusted 
his  high-spirited  wife  by  behaving  more  like  a  pilgrim 
than  a  warrior ;  while  Eleanor  had  attempted  to  divert 
the  French  troops  to  the  aid  of  her  uncle,  Eaymond  of 
Antioch.  Suger  alone  preserved  some  sort  of  harmony 
between  the  ill-assorted  pair;  but  he  died  in  1151,  and 
Bernard,  who  had  never  approved  of  the  marriage  on 
canonical  grounds,  lent  his  support  to  Louis'  desire 
for  a  declaration  of  its  invalidity,  though  Louis  and 
Eleanor  had  been  married  for  thirteen  years  and  there 
were  two  daughters.  The  dissolution  of  the  marriage 
was  pronounced  by  an  ecclesiastical  Council  in  1152, 
and  in  the  same  year  Eleanor,  taking  with  her  all  her 
extensive  lands,  married  tlie  young  Henry  of  Anjou 
and  Normandy,  who  two  years  later  became  King  of 
England. 

Bernard  and  Suger  were  friends ;  l)ut  wliile  the 
predominant  work  of  Suger's  life  had  been  the 
supremacy  of  tlie  House  of  Capet,  it  is  vain  to 
attempt  to  trace  in  liernard  any  prejudice  in  favour 
of  a  growing  French  nationality.  He  rej)resents  the 
cosmopolitan  Cliurch  of    the   Middle   .Ages ;    and   his 


ST.    BERNARD  107 


career  is  a  supreme  instance  of  tlie  power  which  results 
h'om  an  T5solutely  "sin^Ie-iiiTndecFdevQtiQii  Bernard  as 
to  a  lofty  cause.  In  masterful  vehemence  defender  of 
he  challenges  comparison  with  Hildebrancl ;  ^^^  Faith, 
but  unlike  the  Pope,  he  never  identified  the  Church 
with  his  own  interests.  He  steadfastly  refused  all 
offers  of  advancement  for  liimself,  although  he  did  not  ^^:) 
dissuade  his  own  monks  from  accepting  preferment. 
He  would  have  preferred  to  live  out  his  life  as  the 
obscure  head  of  a  poor  and  secluded  community; 
and  even  if  the  political  condition  of  the  time  had  not 
brought  constant  appeals  for  help  to  him,  his  duty  to 
the  Church  would  have  made  him  a  public  character. 
For  the  work  of  his  life  which  was  perhaps  most 
congenial  to  him  was  the  defence  of  the  doctrme 
of  the  Church  against  heretical  teachers.  He^ha^ 
been  called  "the  last  of  the  Fathers,''  and  his  whole 
conception  and  methods  were  those  of  the  great 
Ch^ristian  writers  of  the  early  centuries.  To  the 
great  saint  self-discipline  through  obedience  to  the  ^ 
ordinances  of  the  Church  was  the  cui^e  for  all  evil  ^cj^ 
siiggestioiTs~of  the  hun^n^Teart ;  whilfi__as-Iibj^-the- 
intellect^  its  duty  was  -to  boliove-tli^_r.eyealed  faith  as, 
propounded  by  the  authorities  of  the  Church.  Like 
St]  Augustine,  Bernard  did  not  despise  Jeai^nijig ; 
but  he  would  confine  the  term  to  the  study  of  religion. 
Secular  learning^wlis  for  the  moi:^t  part  not  only  a  waste 
of  precious  time,  but  an  actual  snare  of  the  devil.  Thus 
Bernard  stood  for  all  that  was  most  uncompromising  in 
the  theological  attitude  of  the  time,  Speculative  dis- 
cussion  was  an  abomination ;  for^the  end  of  conversa- 
tion was  spiritual  edification,  not  the  advancement  of 
knowledge;  and  what  to  strong  minds  might  be  mental 


N 


io8         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

gymnastics,  in  the  case  of  weaker  brethren  caused  the 
underminincr  of  their  faith.  Against  heretics  of  the  com-  i)  < , 
moner  sort,  such  as  the  Petrobrusians,  who  inVpugned  / 
the  whole  system  of  the  Church  and  appealed  to  the  mere 
words  of  Scripture,  there  was  only  one  line  to  be  taken. 
But  Bernard  was  no  persecutor.  During  his  preaching 
of  the  Crusade  a  monk  perverted  the  popular  excitement 
to  an  attack  upon  the  Jews  in  the  cities  of  the  Ehine- 
land:  Bernard  peremptorily  interfered  and  crushed 
the  rival  preacher.  Similarly  with  heretics.  He  trusted 
to  his  preaching — attested,  as  it  was  commonly  supposed, 
by  miracles — to  convince  the  people;  while  the  leaders 
when  captured  were  subjected  to  monastic  discipline. 

But  such  popular  forms  of  unbelief  were  merely  the 
outcome  of  the  s])eculations  of  subtler  minds,  which  it 

was  necessary  to  stop  at  the  fountain-liead. 

The  arcli-heretic  of  the  time  was  Pei£i_ 
Al)ailard,  who  routed  in  succession  two  great  teachers 
— ^Villiam  of  Cham])eaux  in  dialectic  in  the  great 
cathedral  school  of  Paris,  and  Anselm  of  Laon,  a  pupil 
of  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  in  theology.  He  gathered 
round  him  on  the  Mount  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  just  outside 
Paris,  a  large  band  of  students,  in  whom  he  inculcated 
liis  rationalistic  methods.  For  his  was  a  definite 
attempt  to  obtain  by  reason  a  basis  for  his  faith.  How 
couTd_Ruch  tpacliing  be  nlloweil  To  r'niiiinue  uni-eproved 
1  >y  ]>ernard,  who  lield  tliat  tlie  sole  oflice  of  tlie  reason 
was  to  lead  the  mind  astray?  ])Ut  in  the  lu'iglit  of  his 
fame  Al)ailard,  still  (|uite  young,  loved  the  beautiful 
and  erudite  Hcloise.  He  abused  lier  trust,  and  when 
slie  in  her  infatuation  for  his  genius  refused  to 
monopolise  for  herself  by  marriage  the  talents  which 
were  for  the  service  of  the  world,  she  and  he  both 


ST.    BERNARD  109 


entered  the  monastic  life.  Abailard  passed  througli 
several  phases  of  this — a  monk  at  St.  Denys  ;  a  hermit 
gradually  "gathering  a  band  of  admirers  round  a 
church  which  they  built  and  he  dedicated  to  the  Third 
Person  of  tlie  Trinity,  the  Paraclete ;  and  finally  the 
abbot  of  a  poor  monastery  in  his  own  native  Brittany. 
While  an  inmate  of  St.  Denys  a  work  of  his  on  the 
Trinity  was  condemned  at  a  Council  at  Soissons  pre- 
sided over  by  the  papal  legate  (1121).  It  was  twenty 
years  before  he  was  again  subjected  to  the  censures  of 
the  Church.  But,  meanwhile,  he  had  more  than  once 
fallen  foul  of  Bernard,  and  had  not  hesitated  to  flout 
with  his  gibes  the  one  man  before  whom  the  whole 
of  Catholic  Europe  bent  in  awestruck  reverence. 
But  the  time  came  when  Bernard,  noting  the  spread 
of  the  Petrobrusian  heresy,  determined  to  strike  at  the 
source  of  these  errors.  He  appealed  for  assistance  to 
the  friends  of  orthodoxy  from  the  Pope  downwards. 
Abailard  determined  to  anticipate  attack  and  desired 
to  be  heard  before  an  assembly  to  be  held  at  Sens 
(1140).  Bernard  reluctantly  consented  to  take  part 
in  a  public  controversy.  But  when  they  met,  Abailard, 
probably  feeling  himself  surrounded  by  an  unsym- 
pathetic audience,  suddenly  refused  to  speak  and 
appealed  to  the  Pope.  On  his  way  to  Eome  he  fell 
ill  at  Cluny,  where  the  saintly  abbot,  Peter  the 
Venerable,  received  him  as  a  monk.  He  made  a  con- 
fession which  chiefly  amounted  to  a  regret  that  he  had 
used  words  open  to  misconstruction,  and  he  died  in 
1142  the  inmate  of  a  Cluniac  house. 

Bernard  remained  upon  the  alert,  intent  on  checking 
any  further  spread  of  the  teaching  of  Abailard's  fol- 
lowers.    But  he  had  pushed  matters  to  an  extreme, 


,,o         THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  EMIMRE 


and  there  were  many  in  high  place  wlio  resented  his 
efforts  to  dictate  the  doctrine  of  the  Churcli.  Thus 
Gilbert  de  la  Porrce,  Bishop  of  Poictiers/a  pupil  of 
Abailard,  was  accused  at  the  Council  of  Pheims  (1148) 
of  erroneous  doctrines  regarding  the  being  of  God  and 
the  Sacraments.  Bernard  tried  to  use  his  influence 
over  Pope  Eugenius  in  order  to  procure  the  bishop's 
condemnation,  and  stirred  up  the  French  clergy  to 
assist  him.  The  Cardinals  addressed  an  indignant 
remonstrance  to  the  Pope,  pointing  out  that  as  he 
owed  his  elevation  from  a  private  position  to  the 
papacy  to  them,  he  belonged  to  them  rather  than  to 
himself,  that  he  was  allowing  private  friendship  to 
interfere  with  public  duty,  and  that  "that  abbot  of 
yours"  and  the  Gallican  Church  were  usurping  the 
function  of  the  See  of  Pome.  Bernard  had  to  explain 
away  the  action  of  his  party,  and  the  Council  contented 
itself  with  exacting  from  the  accused  a  general  agree- 
ment with  the  faith  of  the  Poman  Church,  and  this 
was  represented  by  Gilbert's  friends  as  a  triumph. 

Bernard's  death  restored  the  leadership  of  Christen- 
dom to  the  official  head,  and  the  removal  of  several 
others  of  the  chief  actors  of  the  time  opened  the  way 
not  only  for  new  men,  but  for  the  emergence  of  new 
questions.  Tn  1152  Conrad  III  ended  his  well-inten- 
tioned but  somewhat  ineffectual  reign.  In  115.3  Pope 
Eugenius  died  at  Pome,  to  which  he  had  at  length 
been  restored  a  few  months  previously.  Six  weeks 
later  St.  Bernard  followed  him  to  the  grave.  It  was 
not  long  before  tlie  papal  act  ratified  tlic  general 
opinion  of  Christendom,  and  in  1174  Alexander  III 
placed  his  name  among  those  which  the  Church  desired 
to  have  in  everlasting  remembrance. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE   SCHOOLMEN   AND   THEOLOGY 

MEDIEVAL  learning,  whether  sacred  or  secular, 
was  founded  upon  authority.  The  Scholas- 
ticus,  who  took  the  place  of  the  ancient  Grammaticus, 
was  not  an  investigator,  but  merely  an  interpreter. 
On  the  one  side  the  books  of  the  sacred 

Scriptures  as  interpreted  by  the  Fathers     ^^^.  ^^ 
^  .  .  studies. 

were  the  rule  of  faith ;  on  the  other  side  as 
the  o;uide  of  reason  stood  the  works  of  the  Philoso- 
pher,  as  Aristotle  was  called  in  the  Middle  Ages.  But 
until  the  thirteenth  century  few  of  his  works  w^ere 
known,  and  those  only  in  Latin  translations.  Here 
were  the  materials,  slight  enough,  on  which  hung 
future  development.  The  secular  knowledge  taught  in. 
the  ordinary  schools  was  that  represented  by  the  divi 
sion  of  the  Seven  Arts  into  the  elementary  Trivium  of 
Grammar,  Pthetoric,  Dialectic,  followed  by  the  Quadri- 
vium  of  Music,  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  and  Astronomy. 
The  scope  of  the  Trivium  was  much  wider  than  the 
terms  denote.  TI^us_Gramniar  included  the  study  of 
the  classical  Latin  authors,  which  never  entirely 
ceased;  Ehetoric  comprised  the  praciice  of  composition 
in  prose~~amr'verse,  and  even  a  knowledge  of  the 
elements  of  Eoman  Law  ;  Dialectic  or  Logic  became  the 
ceiTtfe  of  the  whole  secular  education,  because  it  was 
fhe"  only^Tntellectiial-^xerdse  which  was  supposed  to 

III 


!\ 


112         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

be  independent  of  pa^^an  writers.    In  the  Quadriviuni — 

^  the  scIelTtiIro  education-  of- the  time — Arithmetic  and 

Astronomy  were  tauglit  for  the  purpose  of  calculating 

the  times  of  the  Christian  festivals ;  Music  consisted 

chiefly  of  the  rules  of  plain-song.     It  was  the  subjects 

of  the  Quadriviuni  which  were  subsequently  enlarged 

in  scope  by  the  discoveries  of  the  twelfth  century. 

Apart  from  these  subjects  little  attempt  was  made  at 

a_systematic  training  m  theolouyT^  In  so  far  as  any 

such  existed  it  was  purely  doctrinal,  and  aimed  merely 

at  enabling  those  in  Holy  Orders  to  read  the  Bible 

and  the  Fathers  for  themselves  and  to  expound  them 

to  others. 

Now  the  speculative  intellect  trained  in  dialectic 

liad  no  material  to  work  upon  save  wliat  could  be  got 

from  the  Scriptures,  the  Fathers,  and  the 

doQ-mas  of  the  Church ;  and  Sr-holnstifjc^m 
cism.  ^  .  '     — 

is  the  name  given  to  the  attempt  to  apply 
the  processes  of  lo^ic  to  the  systematisation  and 
the  iir^rpretatioiroFthe  Catholic  faIth^_The  movement 
was  one  which,  narrow  as  it  seems  to  us,  yet  made  for 
ultimate  freedom  of  human  thouglit ;  for  it  meant  the 
exercise~or_fche_jLntejj^  which  for  long, 

were  regarded  as  beyond  the  reach  of  rationalistic 
explanation/  There  was  much  difference  of  opinion 
among  tlie  thinkers  as  to  the  limits  to  be  assigned  to 
such  freedom  of  speculation  on  the  mysteries  of  the 
faith,  some  starting  from  the  standpoint  of  idealists 
and  endeavouring  to  avoid  the  logical  consequences  of 
their  speculations ;  while  others,  adopting  so  far  as 
possible  a  position  of  pure  empiricism,  set  tradition  at 
defiance,  and  hoped  liy  the  aid  of  reason  to  reach  the 
conclusions  of  divine  revelation. 


THE  SCHOOLMEN   AND  THEOLOGY       113 


The  philosophical  problem  to  which  the  mediaeval 
thinkers  addressed  themselves  is  one  that  it  is  essential 
to  the  progress  of  liuman  thought  to  solve.  Whence 
do  we  derive  general  notions  (Universals,  as  they  were 
called),  and  do  they  correspond  to  anything  whicli 
actually  exists  ?  Thus  for  the  purpose  of  classifying 
our  knowledge  we  use  certain  terms,  such  as  genera, 
species,  and  others  more  technical.  Do  these  in  reality 
exist  independently  of  particular  Individ-  Realists 
uals  or  substances?  One  school  of  philoso-  and  Nomi- 
phers,  basing  their  reasoning  upon  Plato,  "^lists. 
maintainecL  thaL^uc]]_general  ideas  had  a  real  exist- 
ence of  their  own,  and  hence  gained  the  name^LBeal- 
istsr'  But'^anotTier  school^  who  took  Aristotle  as  thejr, 
champion,  held  that  reality  can  be  asserted  of  the 
individual  alone,  that  ^h ere"  is  "notliing  real  in  the_ 
general  ideaTexcept  tlie  name  by  which  it  is  desig- 
nated;  while  sonic  of  these  Nominalists,  as  they  came 
t7]5e  called,  even  proclaimed  that  the  parts  of  an  indi- 
vidual whole  were  mere  words,  and  could  not  be  con- 
^MerBd-tts Graving  an  existence  of  their  own.  With  the 
application  of  these  definitions  to  theological  dogmas 
we  reach  the  beginning  of  Scholastic  Theology.  Here 
both  sides  were  soon  landed  in  difficulties.  Noiiiinalism, 
in  its  denial  of  reality  to  general  notions,  undermmed' 
the  Catholic  idea  of  the  Church :  in  its  recognition  of 


none  except  individuals  it  destroyed  the  whole  concep- 
tion of  the  solidarity  of  OfiginaT^m ;  while  those  of  its 
professors  who  allowed  no  existence  of  their  own  to 
the  parts  of  an  individual  whole,  resolved  the  Trinity 
into  three  Gods.  On  the  other  hand,  the  danger  of 
Eealism  was  that,  since  individuals  were  regarded 
merely  as  forms  or  modes  of  some  general  idea,  these 
I 


114         THK  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPH^E 

pliilosophers  were  inclined  to  make  no  distinction 
between  individuals  and  to  fall  into  pantheism.  As  a 
result,  the  personality  of  man,  and  with  it  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  disappeared,  and  even  the  personality 
of  God  threatened  to  lose  itself  in  the  universe  which 
He  had  created.  These  tendencies  will  be  clear  from  a 
short  account  of  the  chief  schoolmen  or  writers  on 
Scholastic  Philosophy. 

The  hrst  great  names  are  those  of  Eoscelin  and 
Anselm  of  Canterbury.  IJoscelin  (between  1050  and 
R  scelin  1125),  primarily  a  dialectician,  rigidly  ap- 
and  plied  his  logic  to   theological   dogmas.     If 

Anselm.  ^xe  may  judge  from  the  accounts  of  his 
opponents,  Anselm  and  Abailard,  he  took  up  a  position 
of  extreme  individualism  and  denied  reality  alike  to  a 
whole  and  to  the  parts  of  which  any  whole  is  commonly 
said  to  be  composed.  The  ai)plication  of  tliis  principle 
to  tlie  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  landed  him  in  tritheism, 
and  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  reproach.  Koscelin, 
a  theologian  l)y  accident,  was  answered  by  Anselm  who 
was  primarily  a  theologian,  and  a  dialectician  by  acci- 
dent. If  lioscelin  was  the  founder  of  Nominalism 
Anselm  identified  Eealism  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church.  ]-.ut  Anselm's  Piealism  is  not  the  result  of 
independent  thought.  In  his  methods  he  lias  been 
rightly  styled  the  "  last  of  the  Fathers."  His  keynote 
was  l>elief  in  the  Christian  faith  as  the  road  to  under- 
standing it.  Thus  his  object  was  to  give  to  the  dogmas 
accepted  by  the  Church  a  philosophical  demonstra- 
tion. To  him  Realism  w^as  tlie  orthodox  philosophical 
doctrine  l)ecause  it  was  the  one  most  in  harmony  with 
Christian  tlieology.  He  applied  philosophical  argu- 
ments to  the  explanation  of  those  tenets  of  the  faith 


THE  SCHOOLMEN  AND  THEOEOGY        115 

wliicli    later    scholastic    writers    ])lace(l    among    the 
mysteries  to  be  accepted  without  (|uestion. 

The  reputed  founder  of  definite  Kealism  was 
William  of  Champeaux  (1060-1121),  a  pupil  of 
Iioscelin  himself,  a  teacher  at  Paris,  and  „  .,  , 
ultimately  Bishop  of  Chalons.  By  the 
account  of  his  enemy  Abailard,  he  held  an  uncom- 
promising Eealism  which  maintained  that  the  Univer- 
salwas  a  substance  or  thmo;  winch  was  present  in  its 
entirety  in  each  individual.  It  was  the  presence  of 
such  crude  Eealism  as  this  which  gave  his  opportunity 
to  the  greatest  teacher  of  this  early  period  of  Scholasti- 
cism, Peter  Abailard  (1079-1142).  A  pupil  of  both 
Koscelin  and  William  of  Champeaux — the  two  ex- 
tremes of  Nominalism  and  Kealism — he  aimed  in  his 
teaching  at  arriving  at  a  via  media  to  wliio.h  snh^p- 
quent  writers  hav^  c?W(^^  f.hp  nan^p  Ccmceptualism. 
According  to  liim  the  individual  is  the  only  true 
substance,  and  the  genus  is  that  which  is  asserf.ed"of  a 
number  of  individuals ;  it  is  therefore  a  name  uRad-^.s 
a_sigi4==a  concept,  although  he  does  not  usp.  th^  word 
Thus  he  does  not  condemn  the  Piealistic  theory 
borrowed  from  Plato,  of  Universals  as  having^  an 
existence  of  their  own ;  he  regards  them  as  ideas  or 
exemplars  which  existed  in  the  divine  mind  before  the 
creation  of  things.  But  he  opposes  the  tendency  in 
Eealism  to  treat  as  identical  the  qualities  which 
resemble  each  other  in  different  individuals,  since  that 
abolishes  the  personality  of  the  individual  which  to 
him  is  the  only  reality.  Like  Eoscelin  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  apply  his  dialectic  to  tlieology.  Here, 
while  repudiating  tlie  tritheism  of  his  master,  he 
practically   reproduced   the   old    heresy   of    Sabellius 


ii6         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   EMPIRE 


which  reduced  the  Trinity  to  three  aspects  or  attri- 
butes of  the  Divine  Being — power,  wisdom,  and  love. 
"A  doctrine  is  to  be  believed,"  he  held,  "not  because 
God  has  said  it,  but  because  we  are  convinced  by 
reason  that  it  is  so."  His  whole  attitude  was  that  of 
tlie  free,  if  reverent,  enquirer.  ''  ])y  doubt,"  he  says, 
*'  we  come  to  enquiry ;  by  enquiry  we  reach  the  truth." 
His  book  Sic  et  Non,  a  collection  of  conflicting  opinions 
of  the  Christian  Fatliers  on  the  chief  tenets  of  the 
faith,  was  to  be  the  first  step  towards  arriving  at  the 
truth. 

He  was  condemned  twice — his  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  at  Soissons  in  1121,  his  whole  position  at  Sens 
in  1141.  The  leaders  of  orthodoxy  met 
him  not  with  argument  but  witli  a  demand 
for  recantation.  St.  Norbert  during  the  early  part  of 
his  life,  and  St.  Bernard  both  early  and  late,  pursued 
him  with  tlieir  enmity.  Their  objection  was  not  to 
his  particular  views,  but  to  his  whole  attitude  towards 
divine  revelation ;  and  the  conclusions  in  which  the 
use  of  the  scholastic  method  landed  its  advocates 
perhaps  justified  the  rigid  theologians  in  the  general 
distrust  of  the  exercise  of  reason  on  such  sul)jects. 
St.  Bernard  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  even  Gilbert 
de  la  Porrc'e,  Bishop  of  Poictiers,  an  avowed  EeaHst, 
who  attempted  to  explain  the  Trinity.  In  fact,  St. 
r)ernard  represents  the  reaction  from  Scholasticism, 
which  took  the  form  of  Mysticism,  that  is,  the  purely 
contemplative  attitude  towards  the  verities  of  tlie 
Christian  creed.  In  this  lie  was  followed  with  much 
f£reater  extravaiijance  1)V  the  school  wliicli  found  its 
home  in  the  great  al)bey  of  St.  Victor — Hugh  (1097- 
1143),  who  formulated  the  sentence  "Knowledge  is 


THE  SCHOOLMEN   AND  THEOLOGY       117 

belief,  and  belief  is  love,"  and  Eichard  (died  in  1173), 
who  applied  to  the  intuitive  perception  of  spiritual 
things  and  to  the  love  of  them  the  same  dialectical 
and  metaphysical  methods  as  the  Schoolmen  applied 
to  reason. 

The   results   of   Abailard's   work  are  seen  in    two 
directions.     His  Sic  et  Non  became  the  foundation  of 
the  work  of  the  "  Summists,"  who,  in  the 
place   of    Abailard's   purely    critical    work,      ^^ 
occupied      themselves      in      systematising 
authorities  with  a  view  to  the  reconciliation  of  their   j 
conflicting  opinions.     The  greatest  of  these  was  Peter 
tlie  Lombard  (died  1160),  who  became  Bishop  of  Paris, 
and   whose   Sententiac   was    taken   as    the    accredited 
text-book  of   theology   for   the   next   three   hundred 
years.     With  the  Summists  theology  returned  to  its 
attitude  of  unr|uestioning  obedience    to   the   conclu-    / 
sioiis  of  the  early  Fathers.     But  in  the  second  place, 
Abailarcl  was  indirectly  responsible  for  "  the  troubling 
of    the   Eealistic   waters,"   which    resulted    in   many 
modifications  of  the  original  position. 

A  justification  for  the  attitude  of   the  Church  to- 
wards the  followers  of  Abailard  is  to  be  found  in  the 
apparent  exhaustion  of  the  speculative  move- 
ment which  had  started  at  the  end  of  the    Classical 

revival, 
eleventh  century,  and  the  consequent  de- 
generacy of  logical  studies.  It  was  a  result  of  this 
that  in  the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century  many  of 
the  best  minds  were  directing  their  energies  into  the 
channel  of  classical  learning  which  was  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  next  phase  of  Scholasticism.  Besides 
being  a  philosopher  and  a  theologian,  Abailard  was 
also  a  scholar  well  read  in  classical  literature.     The 


ii8         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


catliedral  school  of  Cluirtres,  founded  l)y  Fulbert  at 
the  ))egrii"iiTiTg"ot  tlie  eleventh  c"eigur}vvvas  the  centre 
of  this  classical  Eenaissance,  and  it  rose  to  the  lieight 
"oTTts  fame  imderiiernard  Sylvester  and  his  pupil, 
AVilliani  of  Conches;  while  the  greatest  representative 
of  this  learning  was  a  pirpilof^^ViniahT'of  Conches, 
John  of  Salisbury,  an  historian  of  philosophy  rather 
tha^i  himself  a  philosopher'or  theologian. 
"Tt  was  in  the"  twelfth  century  and  out  of  the 
cathedral  schools  that  the  mediaeval  universities  arose. 

The  monastic  schools  had  spent  their  intel- 
Origin  of      ig^tual  force,  and  during  this  century  they 

almost  ceased  to  educate  the  secular  clergy. 
St.  Anselm,  when  Ahbot  of  Bee  in  Normandy,  was 
the  last  of  the  great  monastic  teachers.  But  it  was 
not  from  the  school  of  Chartres  but  from  that  of  Pans 
that  the  greatest  University  of  the  Middle  Ages  took 
its  origin.  Paris  was  identilied  with  the  scholastic 
studies  of  dialectic  and  theology,  and  it  was  the  fame 
of  AVilliam  of  Champeaux,  and  still  more  that  of 
Abailard,  which  drew  students  in  crowds  to  the 
cathedral  school  of  Paris.  Put  no  university  im- 
mediately resulted.  Indeed,  the  Guild  of  Masters, 
from  which  it  originated,  is  not  traceable  before  1170, 
and  tlie  four  Nations  and  the  Hector  did  not  exist 
until  the  following  century.  Its  recognition  as  a 
corporation  dates  from  a  bull  of  Innocent  III  about 
1210.  Its  development  starts  from  the  close  of  its 
struf'fde  with  the  Chancellor  and  catliedral  school  of 
Paris,  in  which  contest  it  obtained  the  papal  help. 
Before  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
University  had  acquired  its  full  constitution.  But  its 
great   fame  as  a    place   of  education  dates  from   the 


THE  SCHOOLMEN  AND  THEOLOGY   119 

teaching  of  the  two  great  Dominicans,  Albertus  Mag- 
nus and  Thomas  Aquinas  in  the  convent  of  their 
Order  in  Paris  during  the  middle  years  of  the  century. 
This  new  outburst  of  philosophical  studies  was  due  to 
the  recovery  of  many  hitherto  unknown  works  of 
Aristotle,  and  as  a  consequence  classical  studies  were 
completely  neglected  and  Chartres  was  deserted  for 
Paris. 

We  have  seen  that  the  contemporaries  of  Abailard 
knew  none  but  Aristotle's  logical  works,  and  these  only 
in  part  and  in  Latin  translations.  So  far 
nothing  had  interfered  with  the  develop-  -^"^^^"^  ^" 
ment  of  thought  along  "purely  Western, 
purely  Latin,  purely  Christian "  lines.  Churchmen 
who  did  not  disapprove  of  dialectic  altogether,  had 
accepted  and  used  Aristotle  so  far  as  they  understood 
wdiat  they  had  of  his  works.  Heretics  there  had  been, 
but  hitherto  none  had  questioned  the  authority  of  the 
Bible  or  the  Church.  Meanwhile  in  the  east  a  com- 
pleter knowledge  of  Aristotle's  works  had  been  com- 
municated by  the  Nestorian  Christians  to  their 
Mohammedan  masters.  Greek  books  were  translated 
into  Arabic,  and  Arabian  philosophy,  already 
monotheistic,  became  permeated  with  Aristotelian 
ideas.  Moreover,  the  union  of  philosophical  and  medi- 
cal studies  among  the  Arabs  caused  them  to  attach 
a  special  value  to  Aristotle's  treatises  on  natural 
science.  In  Spain  the  Arabs  handed  on  their  know- 
ledge of  Aristotle  to  the  Jews,  and  it  was  from  the 
Jews  of  Andalusia,  Marseilles,  and  Montpellier  that 
the  works  of  the  Greek  philosopher  and  his  Arabian 
commentators  became  known  in  the  west. 

By  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  chief  of 


I20         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

these  works — texts,  paraphrases,  commentaries — had, 
Revival  ^^  ^^^^  instance  of  Eaymond,  Archbishop  of 
in  the  Toledo,  been  rendered  into  Latin  by  Arch- 

west,  deacon  Dominic  Gondisalvi,  assisted  by  a 

band  of  translators.     But  tlie  translations  of  Aristotle's 


own  'svork^weie  not  fir^gii  the  original  Greeks  huLirom 
the  Ar?vbip.,  whiVli  Iflid^tress  upon  the  most  anti- 
Christian  side  of  Aristotle's  thought,  such  as___the 
eternity  r-f  t]ie_wor]iLand-Jiie-_dfiiiM_of  j^mmortality. 
Tl^  result  was,  a^^  outbrpaX'  <^f  hp.vfttif'-^T  spp.p.ulatinn 
alongpantheistic  lines.  .  Swift  steps  were  taken :  the 
heretics  w^ere  hunted  down,  and  in  1209  the  Council  of 
Paris  forbade  the  study  of  Aristotle's  own  works  or 
those  of  his  commentators  which  dealt  with  natural 
philosophy;  while  in  1215  the  statutes  of  the  Uni- 
versity renewed  the  prohibition.  But  such  prohibition 
did  not  include  any  of  the  logical  wotks ;  and  in  1231 
a  bull  of  Gregory  IX  only  excepted  any  of  Aristotle's 
works  until  they  had  been  examined  and  purged  of  all 
lieresy.  Finally,  in  1254,  a  statute  of  the  University 
actually  prescribed  nearly  all  the  works  of  Aristotle, 
including  even  the  most  suspected,  as  text-books  for 
the  lectures.  Meanwhile  fresh  translations  were  made 
from  the  Arabic  by  Michael  Scot  and  others  at  the 
instance  of  Frederick  IT,  so  that  by  1225  the  whole 
body  of  his  works  was  to  be  found  in  Latin  form. 
Further  still,  the  Latin  conquest  of  Constantinople  in 
1204  liad  broui^ht  back  to  the  west  a  knowled^^e  of  a 
large  part  of  Aristotle's  writings  in  their  original  form. 
Translations  were  now  made  into  Latin  straii^ht  from 
the  Greek;  and  Thomas  A(|uinas,  seconded  by  Pope 
Urban  IV,  took  especial  pains  to  encourage  such 
scholarship. 


THE  SCHOOLMEN   AND  THEOLOGY       121 


By  this  medium  there  was  developed  the  great 
system  of  orthodox  Aristotelianism  which  was  the 
form  taken  by  Scholasticism  in  the  later  -^he  later 
Middle  Ages.  This  was  the  work  of  the  Scholasti- 
Friars,  who,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  c^sm. 
their  own  students  the  best  procurable  training  in 
theology,  established  houses  of  residence  in  Paris  and 
elsewhere.  The  quarrels  between  the  University  of 
Paris  and  the  municipality  in  the  first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century  gave  their  opportunity  to  the  Friars, 
and  even  after  the  settlement  of  the  quarrels  they 
remained  and  became  formidable  rivals  to  the  teachers 
drawn  from  the  secular  clergy.  It  was  only  in  1255 
that,  after  a  severe  struggle,  the  University  was  forced 
by  a  bull  of  Alexander  IV  to  admit  the  Friars  to  its 
privileges,  although  it  succeeded  in  imposing  upon  them 
an  oath  of  obedience  to  its  statutes. 

It  was  the  Franciscans  who  began  this  new  intel- 
lectual movement  in  the  persons  of  the  Englishman, 
Alexander  of  Hales  (died  1245),  who  was  -Yhe 
the  first  to  be  able  to  use  the  whole  of  the  change  of 
Aristotelian  writings,  and  his  pupil,  the  position, 
mystic  Bonaventura  (died  1274).  But  the  scholastic 
philosophy  as  it  is  taught  to  this  day  was  the  work  of 
the  two  great  Dominicans,  Albert  of  BoUstiidt,  a 
Suabian,  known  as  Albertus  Magnus  (1193-1280),  and 
his  even  greater  pupil,  Thomas  of  Aquino,  an  Italian 
(1227-74).  The  endeavour  of  these  writers  was  to 
take  over  into  the  service  of  the  Church  the  'whole 
Aristotelian  philosophy.  It  was  a  consequence  of  this 
tliat  the  old  question  of  the  nature  of  Universals  was 
not  so  all-important,  or  that  at  any  rate  it  ceased  to  be 
treated  from  a  purely  logical  standpoint.     The  great 


122         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Dominicans  were  very  moderate  Eealists  ;  but  they 
treated  Logic  as  only  one  among  a  number  of  subjects. 
Albert  wrote  works  which  in  print  fill  twenty-one  folio 
volumes  (whence  his  name  Magnus) ;  but  his  fame  has 
been  somewhat  obscured  by  the  more  methodical,  if 
almost  equally  voluminous  (in  seventeen  folio  volumes) 
works  of  his  successor.  The  result  of  their  labours 
was  a  wonderfully  complete  harmonisation  of  philoso- 
phy and  theology  as  these  subjects  were  understood 
by  their  respective  champions.  This  was  brought  about 
by  the  use  of  two  methods.  In  the  first  place,  the 
works  of  Aristotle  on  the  one  side,  and  the  VAhle  and 
the  writings  of  the  Fathers  on  the  other  side,  were 
treated  as  of  equal  authority  in  their  respective  spheres 
The  ingenuity  of  the  tlieologians  was  to  be  employed 
in  harmonisimj  them.  It  is,  in  fact,  onlv  from  this 
period  that  "  the  Scholastic  Philosopliy  became  distin- 
guished by  that  servile  deference  to  authority  "  which 
we  ordinarily  attribute  to  it. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  any  such  harmonisation 
could  only  be  carried  out  by  some  demarcation  of  terri- 
Reason  ^^^T-  '^^^^  earlier  orthodox  writers  like 
and  Anselm,  as  w^e  have  seen,  did  not  liesitate 

faith.  to  attempt  a  philosophical  explanation  of 

the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But  Aristotle  and  his 
Arabian  commentators  were  monotheistic,  and  conse- 
quently the  reconciliation  between  the  Aristotelian 
philosopliy  and  the  Christian  faith  could  only  be 
effected  by  distinguishing  between  natural  and  revealed 
religion.  The  truths  of  the  former  were  demonstrable 
by  reason,  of  which  Aristotle  was  the  supreme  guide. 
Tlie  truths  of  tlie  latter  were  mysteries  to  be  accepted 
on  an  equally  good  though  dilTerent   authority.     By 


THE  SCHOOLMEN  AND  THEOLOGY   123 


such  methods  these  later  schoohiien  excepted  and 
accepted  the  doctrines  of  the  1'rinity  and  the  Incar- 
nation, though  they  allowed  the  doctrine  of  the  exist- 
ence of  God  to  be  susceptible  of  logical  proof.  But 
notwithstanding  these  exceptions,  the  teaching  of  the 
Dominicans  was  a  wonderful  attempt  to  abolish  the 
inevitable  dualism  l)etween  faith  and  reason. 

The  history  of  Scholasticism  after  Thomas  Aquinas 
is    largely   occupied    by    an    account    of    the   quarrel 
between  the  rival  scliools  of  Thomists  and    xhomists 
Scotists.     The  great  teacher  of  the  genera-    and 
tion    after    St.    Thomas  w^as    a   Franciscan,    Scotists. 
Duns    Scotus,    the    "Subtle   Doctor,"   who   taught   at 
Oxford   and   Paris  and    died  in  1308.     His   teaching 
differed  in  two  ways  from  that  of  his  Dominican  pre- 
decessor.    In    the    first   place    he    excepted   a    larger 
number  of  theological  doctrines  as  not  being  capable 
of  philosophic  proof,  so  that   his  teaching  tended  to 
bring   back   and  to    emphasise   the   dualism   between 
faith  and  reason.     It  is  for  this  reason  that  his  system 
has  been  considered  as  the  beginning  of  the  decline 
of  Scholasticism.     In  the  second  place,  the  real  quarrel 
between   Thomists   and   Scotists   centred    round    the 
question   of  the   freedom   of  the  will.     The  followers 
of  St.  Thomas  maintained  that  although  the  will  is  / 
to  some  extent  subordinate  to  the  reason,  yet  it  is 
free    to   determine  its  own   course   of  action  after   a 
process  of  rational  comparison,  by  contrast  with   the 
animals   wdiich    act    on    the   impulse  of  the  moment. 
The  Scotists,  on  the  other  hand,  taught  that  what  is 
called  the  will  is  merely  a  name  for  the  possibility  of 
determining  without  motive  in  either  of  two  opposite  \ 
directions.     The  importance  of  this  difference  of  view 


124         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

consisted  in  tliis — tliat  wliereas  tlie  Thomists  lieid  tliat 
God  subjects  His  will  to  a  rational  determination  and 
therefore  commands  what  is  good  because  it  is  good, 
the  Scotist  taught  that  good  is  so  because  God  wills 
it ;  if  He  chose  to  will  the  exact  opposite,  that  would 
be  equally  good — in  other  words,  he  attributed  to  God 
an  entirely  arbitrary  will.  Tlie  two  greatest  disciples 
of  St.  Thomas  were  Dante  and  the  Franciscan  Eoger 
r>acon  (1214-92),  the  latter  of  whom  fell  into  dis- 
favour with  the  superiors  of  his  own  Order  in  con- 
sequence of  his  scientific  studies,  and  spent  many 
years  at  the  end  of  his  life  in  prison. 

The  Scholastic  philosophy  failed  to  justify  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  to  a  rapidly  expanding  world. 
Results  of  -^^^^  ^^  ^^  unjust  and  ungrateful  to  stigma- 
Scholas-  tise  its  results  as  barren.  In  the  first  place 
ticism.  it  gave  a  most  valualjle  training  in  logical 

method  to  the  keenest  intellects  ot  the  time.  More- 
over, the  very  attempt  to  establish  the  Christian  faith 
by  argument  was  an  unconscious  homage  to  the 
supremacy  of  reason  as  the  ultimate  guide ;  while, 
finally,  in  the  philosophy  of  St.  Thomas,  all  nature  was 
regarded  as  a  fit  subject  for  enquiry,  and  some  of  the 
greatest  Schoolmen,  as  we  have  just  seen,  were  noted 
for  their  investigations  into  natural  phenomena. 


CHAPTER    VIII 
GUELF   AND   GHIBELLINE.     I 

HADEIAN  IV  is  interesting  to  us  as  the  only 
Englishman  who  has  ever  sat  upon  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  As  Nicholas  Brakespeare  he 
hadledthelifeof  a  wandering  scholar, chietly  jy  ^  " 
in  France.  He  entered  the  house  of  Canons 
Piegular  of  St.  Eufus  near  Avignon,  and  when  Abbot 
of  this  monastery  attracted  the  attention  of  Eugenius 
III,  w^ho  made  him  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Albano,  and 
employed  him  as  papal  legate  in  freeing  the  Church 
in  Scandinavia  from  its  dependence  on  the  Bishops 
in  Germany.  The  prestige  which  he  acquired  in  this 
work  marked  him  out  as  the  successor  of  the  short- 
lived Anastasius.  Hadrian  was  a  much  abler  man 
than  either  of  his  predecessors,  and,  while  fully 
conscious  of  the  difficulties  of  his  office,  he  did  not 
let  these  deter  him  from  the  fulfilment  of  its  obvious 
duties.  We  have  seen  how  he  drove  Arnold  from 
Eome.  He  found,  however,  a  new  danger  in  Sicily. 
Eoger's  son  AVilliam,  known  as  "  the  Bad,"  took  up 
an  attitude  of  hostility,  and  when  the  Pope  asserted 
his  overlordship,  William's  troops  overran  the  Cam- 
pagna.  The  Pope  retorted  by  excommunicating  his 
refractory  vassals  and  looking  for  help  from  the  new 
German  King. 

With    the   accession    of    Frederick    I   the    quarrel 

125 


126         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

between  Empire  and  Papacy  enters  on  a  new  pliase. 
On  tlie  death  uf  Henry  V  tlie  natural  candidate  of 

tlie  papal  party  for  tlie  German  throne 
The  new      ^^^^g   Henry  the   Black  Duke   of    Bavaria, 

the  head  of  the  family  of  Welf  or  Guelf. 
But  he  was  old,  and  related  by  marriage  to  the 
Hohenstaufen.  He  was,  however,  bribed  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  election  of  Lothair  by  the  offer  of 
Lothair's  daugliter  and  heiress,  Gertrude,  as  a  wife 
for  his  son  Henry  the  Proud.  This  marriage  deter- 
mined the  whole  course  of  German  history.  Henry 
the  Proud  obtained  the  duchy  of  Bavaria  from  his 
father  and  the  duchy  of  Saxony  from  his  father-in- 
law.  Thus,  if  the  Holienstaufen  family  were  the 
lieirs  of  the  Franconian  Emperors,  the  Guelf s  became 
the  representatives  of  the  opposition  to  that  line 
wliich  liad  centred  in  Saxony  ;  and  for  the  old  contest 
between  Papacy  and  Empire,  Saxon  and  Franconian, 
there  was  now  substituted  a  dynastic  struggle  be- 
tween Weiblingen  or  Gliibclline  and  Guelf.  The 
Guelfs  were  the  papal  party  only  in  the  sense  that, 
like  the  Saxons,  they  were  in  opposition  to  the 
dynasty  which  occupied  the  German  throne  and 
claimed  the  imperial  title.  The  name,  however,  was 
extended  to  Italy :  it  was  applied  to  tlie  collective 
opposition  to  the  imperial  power,  and  therefore  came 
to  denote  the  friends  of  the  Papacy. 

So  far  the  contest  had  been  confined  to  Germany  ; 
for  Lothair  had  sacrificed  the  claims  of  the    empire 

to    his    own    immediate    interests,    while 
Frederick      (j^^^^.^j   jj^j  ^g^er  set  foot   in    Italy  after 

his  accession  to  the  German  throne.     But 
as  the  attempt  of  Lothair  to  crush  the  acknowledged 


GUELF  AND  GHIBELLINE  127 

Ghibelline  leaders  liacl  been  tliwarted,  so  Conrad  had 
failed  to  render  the  Giielf  hanuless ;  and  it  was  tlie 
pretensions  of  Henry  the  Lion,  the  son  of  Henry 
the  Proud,  which  determined  Conrad  to  waive  the 
claims  of  his  young  son  to  the  succession,  and  to 
recommend  to  the  nobles  the  choice  of  his  nephew 
Frederick.  But  Conrad's  nomination  would  have 
been  of  little  account.  Frederick's  claims  were 
largely  personal.  Already  before  he  succeeded  his 
father  as  Duke  of  Suabia  he  had  shown  a  combina- 
tion of  boldness  in  action  with  a  conciliatory  disposition 
which  marked  him  out  as  a  leader  and  a  statesman. 
To  this  was  added,  as  with  Conrad,  the  prestige  of  a 
crusader  ;  while  in  view  of  the  bitter  rivalries  of  the 
last  two  reisins,  it  w^as  a  recommendation  that  Frederick 
united  in  his  person  the  two  families  whose  strife  had 
divided  the  kingdom.  Two  years  elapsed  from  his 
accession  before  Frederick  was  free  to  set  out  for 
Italy.  As  the  heir  of  the  Franconians  his  probable 
attitude  was  a  matter  of  some  anxiety  at  Eome  and 
in  Italy  generally.  He  w^as  no  enemy  of  the  Church. 
His  first  act  after  his  coronation  at  Aachen  (March 
9th,  1152)  was  to  announce  his  accession  to  the  Pope, 
who  sent  him  a  return  messacre  of  goodwill.  But 
from  the  outset  Frederick  showed  his  intention  of 
taking  a  high  line,  for,  in  a  disputed  election  at 
Magdeburg  he  obtained  a  party  for  a  nominee  of 
his  own  who  w^as  already  a  bishop,  and  therefore 
ineligible,  and  bv  virtue  of  the  Concordat  he 
decided  for  his  own  candidate  in  defiance  of  all 
ecclesiastical  laws,  and  straightway  invested  him  with 
the  rec^alia. 
Moreover,   he   had   a   high   idea    of    the    imperial 


128         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

mission.  It  was  seventeen  years  since  any  emperor 
had  crossed  the  xVlps ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
■^ht"^  say  whether  tlie  selfisli  policy  of  Lothair 
or  the  non-appearance  of  Conrad  must 
have  been  the  more  detrimental  to  tlie  maintenance  of 
imperial  interests.  But  during  the  first  few  months 
of  his  reign  appeals  poured  in  from  the  Pope  against 
his  various  enemies,  from  some  barons  of  Apulia 
against  the  great  Eoger  of  Sicily,  from  the  citizens 
of  Lodi  against  the  tyranny  of  Milan.  Tliese,  together 
with  the  ridiculous  proffer  of  the  imperial  crown  from 
the  lately  formed  Eepublic  of  Eome,  seemed  to  open 
an  opportunity  for  the  successful  recovery  of  imperial 
rights.  And,  much  as  the  Italians  resented  the  spas- 
modic interferences  of  the  Emperor,  they  were  proud 
of  their  imperial  connection.  The  commerce  of  the 
East,  largely  increased  by  the  Crusades,  tlowed  into 
Western  Europe  chiefly  througli  Italy.  As  a  result, 
the  north  and  centre  of  the  peninsula  were  studded 
with  a  number  of  compact,  self-governing  communities 
inclined  to  resent  any  outside  interference,  liowever 
lawful  in  origin.  But  the  larger  cities  were  ever 
trying  to  group  the  smaller  round  them  as  satellites; 
and  the  constant  quarrels  which  resulted,  often  pro- 
duced a  party  which  was  ready  to  welcome  the 
interposition  of  the  Emperor.  There  was  this 
common  ground,  then,  between  these  cities  and  the 
I*apacy  that,  wliereas  they  found  it  ec^ually  necessary 
to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Emperor  as  an  outside  power 
against  their  foes,  each  was  threatened  by  the  assertion 
of  those  imperial  rights  which  it  was  the  sole  object 
of  Frederick's  journey  to  Italy  to  assert. 

But  the  results  of  Frederick's  first  expedition  to  Italy 


GUELF  AND  GHIHELLINE  129 

were  of  a  very  doubtful  kind.  It  is  true  that  he  was 
crowned  at  Eome,  that  he  asserted  his  imperial  rights 
both  positively  in  a  great  assembly  on  the  plains  of 
Roncaglia  and,  as  it  were,  negatively  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  three  refractory  towns,  and  that  he  got  rid 
of  Arnold  of  Brescia.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
assertion  of  power  provoked  hatred  instead  of  fear ; 
and  although,  despite  some  sharp  differences,  he  parted 
amicably  from  the  Pope,  his  return  to  Germany  left 
Hadrian  in  an  impossible  position.  The  republican 
party  in  Eome  remained  untouched :  William  of 
Sicily  was  unsubdued. 

Shortly  after  his  accession  Frederick  had  made  an 
agreement  with  the  then  Pope  that  neither  should 
make  peace  with  the  Romans  or  the  Sicilian 
King  without  consent  of  the  other.  But  ,^F^ 
now  Hadrian,  deserted,  accepted  the  Com- 
mune as  the  civil  authority  in  Eome,  and  even  came 
to  a  treaty  with  William  of  Sicily,  who  engaged  to 
hold  all  his  lands  as  a  vassal  of  the  Pope.  Frederick 
was  naturally  angry  at  the  repudiation  of  the  mutual 
obligation  with  regard  to  peace  and  of  the  imperial 
suzerainty  of  William's  duchy  of  Apulia.  But  he 
was  too  much  occupied  in  Germany  to  do  more  than 
protest.  And  before  he  was  able  to  assert  his  power 
in  Italy  again  Pope  Hadrian  had,  as  it  were,  thrown 
down  a  challenge  to  him.  At  the  Diet  of  Besan^on 
in  Burgundy  in  1157  two  papal  envoys  appeared 
with  a  complaint  of  Frederick's  conduct  in  some 
particular.  The  letter  which  they  bore  spoke  of  the 
late  coronation  of  the  Emperor  by  the  Pope  and 
used  the  equivocal  word  beneficia  to  describe  the 
papal  act.     When  the  assembled  nobles  resented  the 


I30         THE  CHURCH   AND  'rHR   EMIMRE 

expression  as  implying  a  feudal  relation  between 
Pope  and  Emperor,  the  papal  representative,  the 
Chancellor  Eoland,  boldly  asked,  "From  whom, 
then,  does  tlie  emperor  hold  the  empire  if  not 
from  the  Pope  ? "  Frederick's  authority  alone 
saved  tlie  envoys  from  violence,  and  Hadrian  found 
himself  obliged  to  explain  away  the  objectionable 
expressions. 

But  the  papal  position  had  been  formulated,  and 
that  before  a  German  assembly.      The  Pope  was  no 

longer  a  suppliant :  he  claimed  to  be  more 
breach  ^^^^^  ^^^  equal.      He  had  thrown  down  a 

challenge.  Frederick  proceeded  to  pick 
it  up.  In  fact,  it  was  this  second  expedition  of 
Frederick  to  Italy  which  opened  the  long  contest 
between  Ghibelline  and  Guelf,  a  contest  only  to  be 
ended  by  the  practical  destruction  of  one  or  other 
of  the  parties.  It  was  the  complaints  of  the  other 
cities  against  the  oppression  of  Milan,  which  were  the 
immediate  cause  of  Frederick's  appearance  in  Italy 
in  1158;  and  the  reduction  of  the  Milanese  was 
followed  by  the  holding  of  an  assembly  on  the  plain 
of  Koncaglia,  to  which  Frederick  summoned  the  most 
famous  lawyers  of  Italy.  By  their  decision  rights 
and  powers  were  given  to  him,  whicli  placed  all  the 
communes  at  liis  mercy.  Moreover,  these  were  not 
compatible  with  the  rights  asserted  since  the  time 
of  Gregory  YII  by  the  papal  supporters:  the  regalia 
were  given  to  the  Emperor  at  the  expense  of  eccle- 
siastical as  well  as  lay  landowners  and  corporations. 
If  the  papal  investiture  of  Apulia  infringed  tlie 
imperial  riglits,  tlie  investiture  of  Frederick's  uncle, 
AVelf   VI    of   Bavaria,    with    the    inheritance    of   the 


GUELF   AND   GHIBELLfNE 


131 


Countess  Matilda  openly  ignored  the  oft-repeated 
claim  of  the  Papacy.  Neither  side  seemed  to  take 
especial  pains  to  avoid  a  bread  1.  The  acrimonious 
correspondence  which  ensued  centred  round  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Italian  bishops  to  the  Emperor,  the 
respective  claims  of  each  party  to  Kome,  and  the 
restoration  of  the  Tuscan  inheritance  and  all  the  other 
lands  which  it  claimed,  to  the  Papacy.  The  excom- 
munication of  the  Emperor — the  open  declaration  of 
war — was  prevented  by  Hadrian's  death  on  Septem- 
ber 1,  1159. 

A  schism  was  inevitable.  The  majority  of  the 
Cardinals  elected  the  papal  Chancellor  Pioland  who 
had  defied  Frederick  at  Besan(^on,  and  who 

would  be  likely  to  maintain  Hadrian's  hidi    '^!^^  ^^P^^ 

scnisnia 
claims :   he  was  afterwards  consecrated  as 

Alexander  III.      The  minority  got  possession  of  St. 

Peter's    and   proclaimed   an   imperialist    Cardinal  as 

Victor  IV.      Neither  Pope  could  be  consecrated  or 

could   remain    in    Ptome :   both   appealed   by   legates 

and    letters    for    the    recognition    of     Christendom. 

Frederick  as  Emperor  summoned  both  candidates  to 

submit  their  claims  to  the  decision  of  a  Council  at 

Pavia.     Alexander  entirely  repudiated  the  Emperor's 

implied  claim  to  be  the  arbiter  of  Christendom  in 

a   spiritual   matter,   and   found   support  in    the   fact 

that  only  fifty  bishops,  almost  entirely  from  Germany 

and   Lombardy,  assembled   at   Pavia.      The   Council, 

of  course,  decided  in  favour  of  Victor  IV.     Alexander, 

however,  excommunicated  the  Emperor,  and  bent  all 

his   energies   to   gain    the    adherence  of   France  and 

England.     Not  only  was  he  successful  in   this,  but 

he  was  also  recognised   by  the  Latins  of   the  East 


132         THE  CHTRCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

ami  the  lesser  Christian  kingdoms.  /-Victor  IV's  only 
supporter  was  the  Emperor.        y/ 

Nor  did  Frederick  gain  anything  by  his  successes 
in  Lombardy.  It  cost  liim  seven  months  to  subdue 
the  little  town  of  Crema ;  wliile  it  was  tliree  years 
(1159-62)  before  Milan  surrendered  and  was  destroyed. 
It  is  true,  Alexander  could  no  longer  maintain  himself 
in  Italy,  but  in  1162  sought  refuge  in  France. 
Frederick's  attempts  to  drive  him  from  liis  new 
asylum  failed.  Alexander  carried  on  skilful  negotia- 
tions with  Louis  VII  of  France  and  Henry  II  of 
England  ;  and  at  Whitsuntide,  1163,  a  Council 
assembled  at  Tours,  composed  of  a  large  number  of 
cardinals,  bishops,  and  clergy,  and  acknowledged 
Alexander  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  while  at  the 
joint  invitation  of  the  two  Kings  the  Pope  took  up 
his  abode  at  the  city  of  Sens. 

The  death  of  the  anti-Pope  was  a  further  blow  to 
Frederick's  cause,  for  the  action  of  liis  representative 
in  Italy  committed  him  to  recognise  a  second 
Frederic  s  ^nti-Pope  and  laid  him  open  to  the  accusa- 
tion of  desiring  to  perpetuate  the  schism. 
It  seemed,  however,  as  if  his  cliance  had  come  when 
the  quarrel  between  Henry  II  and  Thomas  Becket 
drove  the  English  Archbishop  to  take  refuge  with 
the  Pope  at  Sens.  Alexander  was  in  a  difficulty. 
Henry  was  perliaps  the  most  powerful  monarch  in 
Europe,  and  his  support  was  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  Pope.  But  the  rights  for  wliicli  Thomas  was 
contending  were  part  of  the  rights  which  Alexander 
himself  was  claiming  against  the  Emperor — the  right 
of  the  Cluircli  to  manage  her  own  concerns  without 
lay  interference.     Wliile,  therefore,  prudence  forbade 


GUELF  AND  GHIBELLINE  133 

him  to  throw  down  a  distinct  challenge  to  the  English 
King,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  comply  with 
Henry's  demand  for  the  condemnation  of  the  refractory 
Archbishop.  Frederick  took  advantage  of  Henry's 
ill-humour  to  propose  a  marriage  alliance  between 
the  royal  liouses  and  to  sound  Henry  on  the  ques- 
tion of  a  change  of  alliance.  The  marriage  thus 
arranged — of  Frederick's  cousin,  Henry  the  Lion,  to 
Henry  11 's  daughter — ultimately  took  place.  But  both 
clergy  and  people  in  England  were  for  the  most  part 
in  sympathy  with  Becket  and  unwilling  to  prolong 
the  schism.  The  altars  used  by  Frederick's  envoys 
in  England  w^ere  purified  after  their  departure ;  and 
although  Henry's  representatives  appeared  at  the 
Diet  of  Wlirzburg  in  May,  1165,  and  even  took  an 
oath  to  acknowledge  the  anti-Pope,  the  English  King 
did  not  dare  to  ratify  their  action. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  time  when  success  seemed 
possible  to  F'rederick.  This  failure  to  move  the  English 
allegiance  and  the  defection  of  a  number  Frederick's 
even  of  the  German  clergy  emboldened  momentary 
Alexander  to  assume  the  aggressive,  and  triumph. 
he  ventured  to  leave  F'rance  and  to  take  up  his  abode 
at  Eome.  (December,  1165.)  Again  the  discontents  of 
Lombardy  were  the  occasion  for  the  Emperor's  visit. 
In  the  autumn  of  1166  he  crossed  the  Alps,  and  after 
spending  some  months  in  Lombardy  he  forced  an 
entrance  into  Home,  enthroned  his  own  Pope  in  St. 
Peter's,  and  himself  wore  his  imperial  crown.  Frederick 
refused  to  treat  witli  Alexander  except  on  the  basis  of 
the  resignation  of  both  existing  Popes  and  the  election 
of  a  third.  Alexander's  position  was  unbearable  and 
he  fled  to  Benevento.    The  Romans  accepted  Frederick 


134        THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


as  their  lord.  The  Emperor's  triiiin})h  seemed  complete  : 
Charlemaufiie's  successor  had  indeed  arrived.  ])iit  the 
triumph  was  short-lived.  The  summer  pestilence, 
which  so  often  attacked  a  German  army  in  Italy,  fell 
more  fiercely  than  ever  before.  Frederick  lied  north- 
wards lief  ore  it,  and  found  so  much  hostility  in 
Lombardy  that  it  was  only  by  bypaths  and  in  dis- 
guise that  he  was  able  to  make  his  way  out  of 
Italy. 

It  was  seven  years  (1167-74)  before  Frederick  was 
able  to  return  to  Italy ;  and  although  by  that  time  his 
position  in  Germany  was  unquestioned  and  the  mutual 
relations  of  Louis  VII  and  Henry  II  precluded  any 
likelihood  of  interference  from  France  or  England,  the 
Italian  foes  of  the  Emperor  had  gathered  strength  and 
combined  their  forces.  Chief  among  these  were  tlie 
cities  of  Lombardy.  Divided  as  they  were  into 
imperialist  and  anti-imperialist,  or,  to  use  the  terms 
coming  into  vogue,  Ghibelline  and  Guelf,  they  at 
first  followed  no  common  policy.  Milan  had  taken 
the  lead  of  the  anti-imperialists.  After  the  destruc- 
tion of  Milan  a  league  formed  by  the  cities  of  the 
Veronese  March  helped  to  force  Frederick  for  a  time 
to  abandon  his  designs  ui>on  Italy  (1164).  During 
his  expedition  of  1166-7  a  Lombard  League  sprang 
up  and  coalesced  with  the  Veronese  League  ;  a 
yj^g  common  organisation  was  set  up,  Milan  was 

Lombard  restored,  many  of  tlie  slaunclicst  im]>erial 
League.  towns  were  forced  to  become  members,  and 
the  crowning  work  of  tlie  League  was  the  foundation 
of  a  common  stronghold  which  in  cumpliment  to  the 
Tope  was  named  Alessandria. 

The  real  danger  to  the  Emjieror  came  from  alliance 


GUELF   AND  GHIBELLINE  135 

of  this  League  with  the  Pope.     The  Lombard  cities 
were  the  Pope's  natural  enemies.     Some  of    Alliance 
them  w^ere  the  rivals   of  Kome — Pavia  as    with  the 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy ;  Milan    Pope. 
as  the  quondam  champion  of  the  cause  of  the  married 
clergy ;   Eavenna  as  the   rival   patriarchate  in  Italy. 
Strong   local   feeling  made  them   resent   all   outside 
interference,  of  Pope  no  less  than  of  Emperor. 

It  was  among  these  free,  self-governing  communities 
that  heresy  found  its  chief  adherents.     But  for  the 
moment  the  common  danger  from  the  Emperor  over-      I 
shadowed  all  other  differences.     The  old  imperial  rights 
which  Frederick  designed  to  recover  included  the  power 
of  appointing  local  officers  whether  consuls  or  bishops.       / 
Alone,  neither  Pope  nor  Lombard  cities  could  look      * 
for  success.     In  1162,  when  all  the  cities  fell  before 
Frederick,  Alexander  remained  practically  untouched. 
But  although  his  position  was  immensely  strengthened 
since  then,  experience  had  shown  that  the  Pope  could 
not  hold  his  own  in  Italy  or  Kome  without  the  help  of 
some  secular  power.     At  the  same  time,  in  Europe  at 
large  he  had  proved  a  most  potent  force,  since  he 
wielded  weapons  which  were  independent  of  time  and 
place  for  their  action,  and  such  as  the  most  powerful 
secular  prince  had  found  it  impossible  to  ignore.     It    1 
was  under  direct  encouragement  from  Alexander  that  / 
the  cities  concluded  their  League  in  1167.     Before  the 
next  imperial  expedition  it  had  become  all-powerful  in 
Northern  Italy  ;  not  only  the  chief  Ghibelline  cities, 
including  Pavia  itself,   had  joined,  but  even  the  re- 
maining feudal  nobles  had  found  it  impossible  to  stand 
outside. 

Nor  was  this  Alexander's  only  triumph.    So  long  as 


136         THE  CHURCH    AND  THE  EMPIRE 


Archbishop  Tlionias  Becket  remained  unreconciled  to 
Henry  II,  the  English  King  had  done  all  in 
Submission  |^-g  pQ^yer  to  iniiiience  Alexander.  A  mar- 
riage alliance  was  carried  out  between  the 
royal  families  of  England  and  Sicily,  solely  with  the 
ol)ject  on  Henry's  side  of  neutralising  one  of  the  chief 
papal  supporters,  and  Henry  scattered  his  bribes 
among  the  Lombard  cities  with  the  same  intent.  But 
the  reconciliation  to  which  the  attitude  of  his  own 
people  forced  Henry  in  1170  robbed  him  of  all  excuse 
for  harassing  tlie  Pope,  and  the  murder  of  the  Arch- 
bishop l)y  four  of  the  King's  knights  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral  isolated  Henry  and  forced  him  to  a  humili- 
ating treaty  with  Alexander. 

Frederick  entered  Italy  in  1174  with  small  chance 
of  success,  for  his  army  was  composed  of  mercenaries, 
p.    ,  and  many  of  the  leading  German  nobles, 

failure  of  notably  his  cousin  Henry  the  Lion,  refused 
Frederick,  to  accompany  him.  He  exhausted  all  the 
resources  of  his  military  art  in  a  vain  attempt  to  take 
the  new  fortress  of  Alessandria.  The  jealousies  within 
the  League  made  negotiations  possible,  but  these  broke 
down  because  Frederick  refused  to  recognise  Alessan- 
dria as  a  member  of  the  League  or  to  include  Pope 
Alexander  in  any  peace  made  with  the  cities.  But  the 
end  was  at  hand.  When  at  lengtli  the  forces  met  at 
Legnano  on  May  29,  1 17G,  tlie  militia  of  the  League 
won  a  decisive  victory.  All  possibility  of  direct  co- 
ercion was  gone,  and  Frederick  was  forced  to  consider 
seriously  a  change  of  policy.  His  only  cliance  of  good 
terms  lay  in  dividing  his  enemies.  He  applied  to 
Alexander,  who  refused  to  separate  his  cause  from  that 
of  his  allies,  though  he  allowed  that  the  terms  might  be 


GURLF  AND  GHIBELLINE  137 


arrancred  in  secret.  This  was  done.  Frederick  under- 
took  to  recognise  Alexander  and  to  restore  all  tlie 
papal  possessions.  For  the  allies,  peace  would  be 
made  with  Sicily  for  fifteen  years;  the  Lombards 
should  have  a  truce  for  six  years.  After  much  nego- 
tiation Venice  was  agreed  upon  for  a  general  congress 
of  all  the  parties  to  the  contest,  and  Frederick  was 
forced  to  promise  tliat  he  would  not  enter  the  city 
without  the  Pope's  consent.  Up  to  the  last  he  hoped 
that  mutual  suspicion  would  divide  his  allies.  But  the 
terms  of  peace  were  agreed  upon  among  the  allies  on 
the  bases  already  mentioned ;  then  Frederick  was 
admitted  into  Venice,  and  a  dramatic  reconciliation 
between  Pope  and  Emperor  was  enacted  (July  25, 
1177).  Frederick  returned  to  Germany  at  the  end  of 
the  year. 

The  schism  was  over,  the  anti-Pope  submitted,  and 
Alexander's  conciliatory  policy  opened  the  way  for 
his  return  to  Eome.  The  Pope  signalised  Triumph 
the  close  of  the  long  schism  of  eighteen  .  of 
years  by  gathering  in  1179  a  General  1  Alexander. 
Council,  distinguished  as  the  Third  Lateran  Council, 
to  which  came  nearly  a  thousand  ecclesiastics  from 
various  parts  of  Christendom.  The  chief  canon 
promulgated  placed  the  papal  election  exclusively  in 
the  hands  of  the  cardinals,  and  ordained  that  a  two- 
thirds  majority  of  the  whole  College  should  suffice 
for  a  valid  election.  During  the  rest  of  his  reign 
Alexander  was  occupied  in  mediating  between  Henry 
II  and  his  sons,  and  between  Henry  and  Louis  of 
France.  He  died,  again  an  exile  from  Ptome,  on 
August  30,  1181.  His  long  pontificate  is  one  of  the 
most   eventful  in   papal   history.     He    was    matched 


) 


138         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


against  an  opponent  who  not  only  aimed  at  reviving 
the  imperial  claims,  but  was  himself  a  man  of  imperial 
character.  Tlie  difficulties  of  the  situation  might  have 
seemed  overwhelming.  Where  Gregory  YII  failed 
Alexander  succeeded.  Tact,  not  force,  was  the  quality 
re(|uired.  The  infinite  patience  and  long  tenacity  of 
Alexander  met  their  reward.  The  Emperor  was 
forced  to  violate  the  solemn  oath  lie  had  sworn  at 
Wiirzburg  in  11 65,  never  to  acknowledge  Alexander 
or  his  successors,  and  never  to  seek  absolution  from 
this  oath.  The  Pope  had  successfully  asserted  his 
claim  to  the  civil  government  of  Eome  and  to  many 
other  purely  temporal  possessions. 

Once  more  Frederick  crossed  the  Alps.     He  had 

crushed  his  formidable  cousin,  Henry  the  Lion,  and 

banished  him  from  Germany ;  he  had  turned 

Frederick's  ^|^g  truce  with  the  Lombards  into  the  Peace 

new  move.        .    _,  ,  •       •         •      .  1       i  a 

of  Constance  by  acqmescmg  m  tlie  loss  01 

the  imperial  rights  for  which  he  had  fought.     His 

eldest  son,  Henry,  had  been  crowned  King  of  Germany 

as  long  ago  as  1168.     Frederick  was  now  anxious  to 

secure  for  him  the  succession   to  the  imperial  title, 

and  hoped  to  find  the  Pope  willing  to  crown  Henry 

as  his  father's  colleague  in  the  Empire.     But  although 

Lucius     III,    Alexander's     successor    (1181-5),    had 

been  driven  from  Ptonie,  and  was  dependent  on  the 

Emperor's  help,  it  was  impossible  for  him  or  for  any 

Pope   to  agree  to   Frederick's  wish.      Two  emperors 

at  once  were  a  manifest  absurdity,  and  Frederick  was 

not  likely  to  accept  the   Pope's   suggestion   that  lie 

shoidd  resign  in   favour  of  his  son.     Moreover,  there 

lay   between   Pope   and    Emperor   the  still    unsettled 

question  of  tlic  inlieritance  of  the  Countess  Matilda. 


GUELF   AND  GHIBELLINR  139 

It  was  clear  that  the  quarrel  must  sliortly  be  renewed. 
By  the  nature  of  the  respective  claims  there  could 
never  be  more  than  a  temporary  truce.  Lucius  died, 
but  his  successor,  Urban  TIT,  was  yet  more  irrecon- 
cilable. Meanwhile  Frederick  had  resolved  on  an 
act  which  would  make  the  breach  between  Papacy 
and  Empire  irreparable.  The  Iving  of  Sicily  was 
William  II  "  the  Good."  His  marriage  to  a  daughter 
of  Henry  II  of  England  (1177)  had  proved  childless, 
and  the  succession  seemed  likely  to  fall  to  Constance, 
daughter  of  King  Eoger  and  aunt  of  the  reigning 
King.  She  was  over  thirty  years  of  age.  Frederick's 
defeat  in  1174  had  been  due  to  his  failure  to  divide 
his  enemies.  Now,  however,  he  had  his  chance.  The 
Lombards,  having  got  all  that  they  wanted,  were  quite 
favourable  to  him.  He  planned  to  win  Sicily  also  by  / 
a  marriage  between  his  youthful  son  Henry  and  the  t 
almost  middle-aged  heiress  Constance.  A  party  in 
Sicily  helped  him ;  and  the  marriage  and  the  corona- 
tion of  the  happy  pair  as  King  and  Queen  of  Italy 
took  place  at  Milan  in  January,  1186.  Not  only  had 
the  Emperor  knocked  ;iway  the  staff  upon  which  the 
Papacy  had  been  disposed  to  lean  its  arm  for  more 
than  a  century ;  but  he  had  actually  picked  it  up 
and  proposed  to  use  it  in  the  future  for  the  purpose 
of  belabouring  the  Popes.  Moreover,  he  had  really 
secured  his  object  of  a  hereditary  empire ;  for  Henry, 
now  King  witli  his  father  in  Germany  and  in  Italy, 
must  needs  succeed  to  all  the  paternal  honours.  In  vain 
Urban  tried  to  raise  up  a  party  against  the  Emperor  ; 
and  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  which  at  length 
he  had  determined  to  pronounce,  was  stopped  only  by 
the  death  of  the  Pope  on  October  20,  1187. 


I40         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

lb  was,  however,  chance  and  not  the  policy  of  tlie 

Emperor  that   averted   the    inevitable   conflict.      On 

July    5    the    Christians   of   Palestine    had 

Frederick's  g^ffe^-ed  a  crusliincr  defeat  at  the  battle  of 
death. 

Hittim  or  Tiberias  at  the  hand  of  Saladin, 

and  on  October  o  the  Mohammedan  conf^ueror 
entered  Jerusalem.  Tlie  quarrel  was  necessarily  sus- 
pended, and  a  new  crusade  was  preached  with  such 
success  that  in  May,  1189,  Frederick  set  out  for 
Palestine,  to  be  followed  a  year  later  by  the  Kings 
of  France  and  England.  But  the  Emperor  never 
reached  the  Holy  Land.  He  made  his  way  by 
Constantinople  and  Iconium  into  Cilicia,  and  there 
not  far  from  Tarsus  he  disappeared,  apparently 
drowned  while  crossing  or  bathing  in  a  river. 

With  the  great  Emperor's  death  the  contest  be- 
tween Papacy  and  Empire  enters  on  a  new  phase. 
It  is  typical  of  this  phase  that  the  one 
The  new  outstanding  fjuestion  between  the  two 
powers  after  the  Peace  of  Venice  was  the 
question  of  Tuscany.  For  the  quarrel  was  now 
almost  entirely  political,  and  was  becoming  more 
and  more  confined  to  Italian  politics.  The  imperial 
attempt  to  subdue  Italy  to  Germany  had  failed,  and 
it  remained  for  the  Emperor  to  make  it  impossible 
for  the  Pope  to  live  at  Ptome  exce})t  as  a  dependant 
of  tlie  German  King.  AVitli  Tuscany,  Lomljardy,  and 
Sicily  under  the  imperial  control,  there  was  no  room 
for  papal  action  in  Italy.  In  a  contest  of  abstract 
principles  tlie  Emperor  had  entirely  failed  to  subdue 
the  Pope ;  and  the  interest  and  importance  of  the 
contest  between  Frederick  and  Alexander  lay  in 
the  fact  that  each  was  the  representative  of  an  idea. 


GUELF   AND  GHIHKLLINE  141 

This  is  no  doubt  tlie  reason  wliy  Frederick's  failure 
did  not  damage  his  prestige.  But  he  had  learnt 
that  he  could  not  set  the  abstract  claims  of  the 
Empire  against  those  of  the  Tapacj.  The  former  did 
not  appeal  to  any  one  beyond  the  limits  of  Germany ; 
whereas  the  latter  could  count  on  sympathy  in  every 
country  of  Western  Europe.  Frederick,  therefore, 
made  no  more  appeals  to  Europe.  His  disputes  with 
the  Papacy  were  now  individual  matters :  they  were 
contests  of  policy,  not  of  principle,  and  he  would  not 
hesitate  to  turn  circumstances  to  his  advantage. 
Perhaps,  fortunately  for  Frederick's  reputation,  he 
did  nothing  more  than  inaugurate  this  policy.  But 
it  was  a  policy  which  essentially  suited  the  peculiar 
genius  of  his  successor. 

As  soon  as  I'rederick  had  started  for  Palestine 
Henry  was  plunged  in  difficulties.  Henry  the  Lion 
returned  from  banishment  and  raised  a  dis-  ^^  yj 
turbance.  A  few  months  later  William  II 
of  Sicily  died,  and  Pope  Clement  III  (1187-91)  im- 
mediately invested  with  the  kingdom  Tancred,  Count 
of  Lecce,  an  illegitimate  member  of  the  Hauteville 
family,  who  had  been  elected  by  the  party  opposed  to 
the  German  influence.  On  the  top  of  these  difficulties 
came  the  news  of  Frederick's  death.  There  was  thus 
a  double  reason  for  an  expedition  to  Italy — Henry 
must  assert  his  wife's  claim  to  the  throne  of  Sicily, 
and  he  must  do  this  without  quarrelling  with  the 
Pope,  from  whom  he  must  obtain  the  imperial  crown. 
His  first  expedition  was  only  a  formal  success.  Pope 
Celestine  III  (1191-8),  who  took  office  just  after 
Henry  entered  Italy,  dared  not  refuse  to  crown  him 
emperor,  nor   could   he   prevent    Henry  from    either 


142         THE  CHURCH   AND   THE  EMPIRE 

courtincr  tlie  Eoman  Commune  witli  success  or 
prosecuting  his  claim  to  the  Sicilian  crown.  But 
Henry  failed  before  Naples :  his  army  was  deci- 
mated by  the  plague,  and  his  wife  fell  into  Tancred's 
hands. 

This  ill-success  revived  the  Guelf  opposition  in 
Germany,  whose  most  powerful  supporter  was  Henry 
j^jg  the     Lion's     brother-in-law,     Eichard     of 

success  England.  Ricliard  on  his  way  to  Palestine 
in  Italy.  had  made  an  alliance  with  Tancred  against 
the  common  Hohenstaufen  enemy.  But  returning 
^  from  crusade  Eichard  fell  into  the  hands  of  Leopold 
of  Austria.  Leopold  was  forced  to  hand  him  over 
to  the  Emperor,  and  the  anti-Hohenstaufen  alliance 
fell  to  pieces.  For  whatever  reason,  Henry  kept  the 
English  King  for  more  than  a  year,  and  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  papal  remonstrances  against  his  detention 
of  a  crusader.  Fortified  by  the  failure  of  the  threat- 
ened comljination  against  him,  and  by  the  money  from 
liichard's  ransom,  Henry  returned  to  Italy.  Fortune 
favoured  him  at  every  turn.  Since  he  left  Italy 
Tancred  and  his  eldest  son  had  died,  and  Henry 
found  no  difficulty  in  getting  hold  of  the  youthful 
son  of  Tancred,  who  had  been  placed  upon  the  throne 
under  his  mother's  regency.  Apulia  and  Sicily  were 
overrun.  The  toils  were  closing  round  the  Pope. 
Celestine  liad  excommunicated  all  concerned  in 
Kichard's  imprisonment  until  they  should  have  re- 
stored his  ransom.  Thus  by  implication  Henry  was  ex- 
communicate. The  money  had  been  spent  in  subduing 
tlie  papal  fief  of  Sicily ;  while  Henry  further  made 
Ills  brother  Philip  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  and  planted 
liis  followers  about  in  the  lands  of  the  Churcli.     Yet 


GUELF   AND  GHIliKLLINE  143 

Celestine  did  not  dare  to  pronounce  the  fatal  sentence 
against  the  Emperor  directly. 

Henry  meditated  one  more  step  which  would  have 
rendered  the  Pope  powerless.  Frederick,  with  the 
mere  prospect  of  the  Sicilian  succession  for    j^jg  I 

his  son,  desired  to  make  the  imperial  title    imperial  . 

hereditary ;    much    more  was    Henry,    the    schemes.         | 
active  sovereign  of  Sicily,  anxious  to  accomplish  this. 
The  lay  princes  could  have  been  bribed  to  consent  by 
the  recognition  of  hereditary  succession  to  their  fiefs. 
But  the  German  ecclesiastics,  with  the  Pope  at  their 
back,   liad   no    desire   to   increase   the   power  of   the      , 
Emperor,  and  the  utmost  that  Henry  could  secure  was      ^ 
the  election  as  German  King,  and  therefore  King  of 
the  Eomans,  of  his  two-year-old  son  Frederick. 

Henry's  projects  stretched  out  beyond  the  lands 
under  his  rule.  The  death  of  Saladin  encouraged  the 
idea  of  a  new  crusade.     Henry  as  crusader  i 

tt; 

might  propitiate  the  Pope.     But  such  an 
expedition   once  started  might  have   been 
diverted,  as  indeed  happened  a  few  years  later,  for  an 
attack  upon  Constantinople,  which  should  lead  to  the 
union  of  both  empires  under  the   ambitious  Hohen- 
staufen.    Pretexts  were  not  wanting.    Henry  collected 
a   number   of   German   crusaders   upon   the   coast  of 
Italy,  and   many    of    these    had   actually    sailed    for 
Palestine  when   everything  was   changed  by  Henry's 
sudden  death  on  September  28,  1197.    He  had  reigned 
eight   years,  and  was    only  thirty-two    years  of   age. 
Despite  his  youthful  age  and  his  short  reign  he  had      I 
raised  the  imperial  power  to  a  height  which  it  had      \ 
scarcely  ever  touched  before  and  which  it  was  never 
to  reach  again.    Endowed  with  ability  at  least  equal  to 


144  THE  CHURCH    AND   THE    KMPUiE 

liis  father's,  his  very  selfishness  and  rutlilessness  gave 
liini  a  success  denied  to  his  predecessor.  All  Henry's 
acts  were  associated  with  his  own  aggrandisement,  and 
the  result  shows  tliat  the  Papacy  no  less  than  the 
Empire  was  dependent  for  its  inlluence  chietly  upon 
the  personality  of  the  holder  of  the  office.  Henry  had 
to  deal  at  Eome  with  Popes  of  inferior  capacity. 
Had  Innocent  III  been  elected  a  few  years  earlier,  the 
tragedy  of  Anagni — the  maltreatment  of  Boniface  VIII 
by  the  emissaries  of  the  King  of  France — might  have 
been  anticipated  by  a  century. 


CHAPTER    IX 
INNOCENT   III 

CELESTINE  III  died  less  than  four  months  after 
the  Emperor  Henry  YI,  and  the  centre  of  mterest 
immediately  shifted  from  the  Empire  to 
the  Papacy.  For,  in  their  desire  to  shut  p^  "^"^ 
out  the  Eoman  clergy  and  people  from  any 
share  in  the  election,  the  Cardinals  made  haste  to  find 
a  successor.  As  it  happened,  the  object  of  their  choice 
was  also  the  favourite  of  the  Eoman  people.  Lothair 
of  Segni  was  the  youngest  of  the  Cardinals,  being  only 
thirty-seven  years  of  age.  He  was  sprung  from  a 
German  family  which  had  settled  in  the  tenth  century 
in  the  Campagna.  He  had  studied  in  Paris  and 
Bologna,  and  had  been  made  Cardinal  by  his  uncle, 
Clement  III.  Celestine  was  of  the  rival  family  of 
Orsini,  and  during  his  reign  the  young  Cardinal  re- 
mained in  retirement  and  consoled  himself  by  writing 
a  book  on  the  De&pite  of  the  World.  Thus  he  was 
young,  noble,  wealthy,  and  distinguished.  He  showed 
his  power  of  self-control  at  once  by  doing  nothing  to 
shorten  the  canonical  time  before  his  consecration  as 
priest  and  bishop ;  while  the  magnificence  of  the 
coronation  ceremonies  typified  the  view  which  he  took 
of  the  office  and  position. 

The  work  of  Innocent  III  was  European  in  import- 
ance, and  he  found  his  opportunity  in  the  disturbed 
L  145 


m6      the  church  and  the  empire 

condition  of  tlie  time.  The  rivalry  of  Cxliil^elline  and 
Guelf  in  Germany  and  Italy,  and  tlie  rivalry  of 
The  con-  ^^^®'  l^o^^ses  of  Capet  and  Plantagenet  in 
dition  of  France,  forbade  any  concerted  action  on 
Europe.  ^]^q  p^^.j^  Qf  Christendom,  whether  against 
pagans  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Germany  or  against 
Mohammedans  in  Spain  or  Syria.  Hungary  and 
Poland  were  both  in  a  state  of  ferment ;  in  Spain  the 
Almohades  from  Morocco  were  making  serious  ad- 
vances. Saladin's  death  might  seem  to  offer  a  pecu- 
liarly favourable  chance  of  recovering  for  Christendom 
what  had  been  so  recently  lost.  But  the  Empire  was 
divided ;  England  and  France  neutralised  each  other, 
the  Eastern  Empire  was  weakened  by  tlie  success  of 
an  usurper,  the  knightly  orders  were  quarrelling  with 
each  other.  And  this  state  of  disunion  was  not  the 
most  dangerous  feature  of  the  moment.  The  moral 
condition  of  Europe  was  seldom  worse.  Philip  of 
France  had  repudiated  his  Danish  wife,  Ingebiorg, 
apparently  for  no  more  valid  reason  than  that  he  liked 
some  one  better;  Alfonso  of  Castile  took  his  own  half- 
sister  to  wife.  Oriental  manners,  imported  from  Pales- 
tine or  learnt  from  commercial  intercourse  in  the 
Mediterranean,  seemed  to  be  invading  the  furthest 
regions  of  the  West.  Perhaps  to  the  same  influence 
may  be  attributed  the  spread  of  religious  heresies. 
Much  of  this  was  provoked  by  direct  antagonism  to  a 
powerful  and  corrupt  Church  ;  but  the  actual  form 
assumed  by  tlie  positive  beliefs  of  those  who  organised 
themselves  apart  from  the  Catholic  Church  were 
largely  Oriental  in  character. 

Everything  com])ined  to  encourage  Innocent's  inter- 
ference, and  it  may  be  pointed  out  at  once  that  his 


INNOCENT    III  147 


success  was  largely  clue  to  tlie  selfish  ambitions  and 
desires  of  the  lay  princes,  whicli  enabled  liini  to  pose 
as  the  undoubted   re])resentative   of  moral   force   or- 
ganised in   the   Churcli.      In  all  his   most   important     | 
acts  he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  popular  opinion.      Thus 
his  contest  with  Philip  of  France  in  favour  of  the  re- 
pudiated Ingebiorg  commanded  the  sympathy  of  every    I 
right-thinking  person  in  Europe ;   his  desire  for  the  ' 
separation  of  Italy  and  Germany  under  different  rulers 
was  popular  in  Italy;  while  to  attempt  an  union  of 
the  Churches  of  East  and  West,  to  crush  out  heresy  in 
the  south  of  France  and  elsewhere,  to  promote  a  new 
crusade  in  the  East,  were  all  regarded  as  duties  falling 
strictly  within  the  papal  sphere. 

The  importance  of  this  great  activity  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  was  based  upon  the  most  advanced  theories  of 
papal  power.  It  was  the  controversy  over  ^^^  ^^^^^^ 
lay  investiture  which  first  caused  the  de-  for  the 
fenders  of  the  Churcli  to  formulate  their  Papacy, 
views  of  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical  influence  as  against 
the  influence  of  the  secular  authority.  But  the  ex- 
treme claims  put  forward  for  the  Papacy  as  the  head 
of  the  Church,  by  Gregory  VII  and  his  followers,  had 
provoked  the  counter  definitions  of  the  jurists  of 
Bologna  on  behalf  of  the  imperial  power.  But  the 
claim  of  universal  dominion  by  the  Emperor  was  con- 
tradicted by  facts,  and  never  rose  above  the  dignity 
of  an  academic  thesis  ;  whereas  in  the  century  which 
elapsed  from  the  days  of  Gregory  VII  to  those  of 
Innocent  III  the  papal  power  was  becoming  an  in- 
creasing reality  in  the  Church.  It  is  indeed  a  little 
difficult  to  see  wlierein  it  was  possible  for  any  successor 
of  Gregory  VII  to  make  an  advance  upon  the  claims 


148         THE  CHURCH   AND   THE    EMPIRE 

put  forwaicl  by  that  Pope.  Greguiy  is  fond  of  pointing 
out  tliat  tlie  power  of  Innding  and  loosing  given  to 
St.  Peter  was  a1)Solutely  conipreliensive,  including  all 
persons  and  secular  as  well  as  spiritual  matters. 
Innocent  tells  the  Patriarcli  of  Constantinople  that 
the  Lord  left  to  Peter  not  only  the  whole  Church,  but 
tlie  whole  world  to  govern.  To  the  Karolingian  age  it 
was  the  Emperor  who  was  the  Vicar  of  God.  The 
Churcli  reformers,  while  attacking  this  title,  do  not 
seem  to  have  claimed  in  words  for  the  Pope  a  higher 
title  than  Vicar  of  St.  Peter.  Innocent,  however,  more 
than  once  asserts  that  he  is  the  representative  "  not  of 
mere  man,  but  of  very  God."  In  fact,  such  develop- 
ment as  is  to  be  found  in  the  papal  office  during  the 
twelfth  century  consists  merely  in  making  rather  more 
explicit  positions  which  have  already  been  asserted. 
Gregory,  in  writing  to  William  the  Con(|ueror,  had 
used  tlie  fiu'ures  of  the  sun  and  moon  to  illustrate  tlie 
relations  of  Church  and  State.  Innocent  draws  out 
the  analogy  in  much  detail :  "  As  God,  the  builder  of 
the  universe,  has  set  up  two  lights  in  the  iirmament 
of  heaven,  the  greater  liglit  to  rule  the  day  and  the 
lesser  lii^ht  to  rule  the  night,  so  for  the  firmament  of 
the  universal  Church,  which  is  called  by  the  name  of 
heaven.  He  has  set  up  two  great  dignities,  the  greater 
to  rule  souls,  as  it  were  days,  and  the  lesser  to  rule 
bodies,  as  it  were  nights;  and  these  are  priestly 
authority  and  royal  power.  Further,  as  the  moon 
obtains  its  light  from  the  sun,  seeing  that  it  is  really  the 
lesser  both  in  (quantity  and  (juality,  and  also  in  posi- 
tion and  inlluonce,  so  royal  power  obtains  the  splendour 
of  its  dignity  from  priestly  authority."  He  pt)ints  out 
on  another  occasion  that  ''  individual  kings  have  indi- 


INNOCENT    III  149 


vidual  kingdoms,  but  Peter  is  over  all,  as  in  fulness 
so  also  in  breadth,  because  he  is  the  Vicar  of  Him 
whose  is  the  earth  and  the  fulness  thereof,  the  round 
world  and  they  that  dwell  therein.  Further,  as  the 
priesthood  excels  in  dignity,  so  it  precedes  in  anti([uity. 
Both  kingdom  and  priesthood,"  he  allows,  "  were  insti- 
tuted among  the  people  of  God ;  but,"  he  adds,  "  while 
the  priesthood  was  instituted  by  divine  ordinance,  tlie 
kingdom  came  into  existence  through  the  importunity 
of  man."  Hence  it  is  not  strange  that  "not  only  in 
the  Patrimony  of  the  Church,  but  also  in  other  splieres, 
we  occasionally  exercise  temporal  jurisdiction,"  for  "  he 
to  whom  God  says  in  Peter,  '  Whatsoever  thou  slialt 
bind  on  earth,  etc.',  is  His  Vicar,  who  is  priest  for  ever 
after  the  order  of  Melchisedek,  ordained  by  God  to 
be  judge  of  the  quick  and  the  dead." 

But  while  the  Pope  assumed  this  all-embracing  posi- 
tion, a  considerable  share  of  his  energies  was  absorbed 
in  a  very  small  and  purely  selfish  matter — 
the  extension  of  tlie  temporal  dominion  of    ^^  secures 
the  Papacy ;  and  the  use  for  this  personal 
object  of  the  great  powers  which  men  willingly  acknow- 
ledged in  the  Pope  as  the  upholder  of  the  standard  of 
morality  greatly  prejudiced  the  success  of  Innocent's 
policy  elsewhere.     In  its  origin  this  was  a  policy  of  self- 
preservation.     The  civil  government  of  Eome  was  in 
the   hands   of    a    prefect    representing   the 
Emperor  and  a  senator  who  was  the  spokes- 
man of  the  Commune.     The  Pope  was  either  a  prisoner 
or  a  nonentity  in  his  own  capital.     The  Empire  being 
in  abeyance,  it  was  not  difficult  to  transform  the  prefect 
into  a  papal  officer,  but  a  greater  triumph  was  the 
nomination  of  the  senator,  for  it  carried  the  ultimate 


ISO         THE  CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE 

control  over  the  municipality,  and  thus  undermined 
the  power  of  tlie  Commune,  wliich  had  paralysed  the 
papal  inlluence  in  liome  for  nearly  sixty  years.  Tliis 
signal  victory  was  not  gained  without  a  struggle.  Tlie 
democratic  party  even  drove  the  Pope  from  the  city 
for  a  time:  but  by  1205,  Innocent,  by  apparent  con- 
cessions and  the  use  of  bribery,  had  won  his  end. 

Meanwhile  an  even  more  important  movement  had 
been  accomplished.  The  centre  of  the  peninsula  out- 
side the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter  was  in 
Central  ^|^g  hands  of  Henry  YI's  German  followers. 
One  was  driven  from  Spoleto,  another  from 
Piavenna,  and  both  these  districts  were  added  to  the 
papal  dominions.  Tuscany  had  been  made  over  to 
Henry  YPs  brother,  Philip ;  but  he  went  off  to  secure 
the  German  crown,  and  his  subjects  did  homage  to  the 
Pope.  There  existed,  however,  a  League  of  Tuscan 
cities,  and  the  Pope,  leaving  to  them  their  indepen- 
dence, merely  accepted  the  office  of  President  of  the 
League.  It  was  the  addition  of  these  substantial  do- 
minions  to  the  lands  of  the  Patrimony  which,  as 
between  Pope  and  Emperor,  eifectually  solved  the 
question  of  the  long-contested  Matildau  inlieritance, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  temporal  dominions 
of  the  Papacy  as  they  remained  until  1860. 

The  German  influence  also  threatened  to  be  para- 
mount in  the  south  of  the  peninsula.     For  Henry  VI, 
while  giving  to  Queen  Constance  the  nonii- 
^°"  nal   regency   during  the  minority  of  their 

son  Frederick,  took  care  that  the  real  au- 
thority should  be  in  the  hands  of  Ids  German  followers. 
Constance,  however,  had  no  desire  for  tlie  continued 
union  of  the  German  and  Sicilian  crowns;  and  here 


INNOCENT    III  151 


she  found  a  staunch  supporter  in  the  Pope.  First  with 
Celestine,  and  then  with  Innocent,  she  entered  into 
close  relations.  Frederick  took  the  old  Norman  oath 
of  vassalage  for  his  dominions ;  and  when  Innocent 
confirmed  the  title,  he  compelled  Constance -in  return 
to  surrender  the  ecclesiastical  privileges  connected  with 
elections,  legatine  visits,  appeals,  and  councils  originally 
granted  by  Urban  II  to  Count  Koger  of  Sicily,  and  to 
promise  an  annual  tribute.  The  Pope,  however,  aided 
her  to  clear  her  country  of  the  Germans,  many  of 
whom  he  afterwards  again  hunted  from  Central  Italy. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  on  her  death  in  Novem- 
ber, 1198,  Constance  should  commend  her  child  to  the 
guardianship  of  Innocent.  Innocent  himself  was  far 
too  much  occupied  to  take  the  personal  direction  of 
affairs,  and  eight  years  of  incessant  warfare  (1200-8) 
were  necessary  before  the  German  influence  could  be 
finally  got  rid  of,  and  then  Innocent  secured  his 
influence  through  a  regency  of  native  nobles  under  the^ 
presidency  of  his  own  brother. 

Even  on  the  German  side  there    was    little   need 
to  anticipate  that  the   two  crowns  of  Germany  and 
Sicily   would  remain  united.     The   nobles    -^he 
were  scarcely  likely  to  keep  their  promise    contest  in 
of  crowning  Henry's  young  son.     He  was    Germany, 
a  mere  child,  three  years  of  age ;  not  yet  baptised, 
perhaps  because  his  father  was  excommunicate ;  brought 
up  in  Italy  and  in  the  hands  of  Italians ;  a  protege  of 
the  Pope.     Thus  his  uncle  Philip  was  easily  persuaded 
by  the  Hohenstaufen  supporters  in  Germany  to  take 
the  place  intended  for  his  nephew,  and  w^as  chosen  and 
crowned  as  King  of  Germany  (March,  1198).     But  the 
enemies  of  the  Hohenstaufen  could  not  let  the  oppor- 


152         THE  CHURCH   AM)  THE    ENH^IRE 


I 


tunity  go  by,  and  three  months  later,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Ivicliard  of  England,  they  elected  and  crowned  his 
nephew.  Otto  of  Ik'unswick,  a  son  of  Henry  the  Lion 
of  Saxony,  whom  liicliard  had  made  Count  of  Poitou 
and  York.  Tlius  was  revived  the  struggle  between 
Ghibelline  and  Guelf. 

Innocent  undertook  the  decision  of  the  question  as 
a  matter  belonging  to  his  sphere,  ''chiefly  because  it 

was  the  Apostolic   See   which  transferred 
Innocent's    ^|^g  Empire  from  the  east  to  the  west,  and 

lastly  because  the  same  See  grants  the 
crowni  of  tlie  Empire."  In  the  divided  condition  of 
Germany  much  depended  on  his  attitude.  It  was 
scarcely  likely  that  he  would  accept  a  Hohenstaufen 
who  was  lord  of  Tuscany.  But  Philip  was  the  nominee 
of  the  most  numerous  and  important  section  of  the 
German  nobles,  while  the  death  of  Eichard  of  England 
(1199)  deprived  •  Otto  of  his  chief  supporter.  As 
Gregory  Yll  on  a  similar  occasion,  so  now  Innocent 
delayed  his  decision  between  the  rivals  until  he  could 
make  up  liis  mind  that  Otto  had  some  chance  of  suc- 
cess. Meanwhile  he  did  everything  to  i)rejudice  the 
minds  of  the  German  people  against  Philip,  who,  as 
the  liolder  of  lands  claimed  by  the  Papacy,  was 
already  excommunicate.  After  three  years  of  de- 
liberation Innocent  declared  himself.  Otto  paid  a 
lieavy  price  for  tlie  decision  in  his  favour.  By  the 
Capitulation  of  Neuss  (June,  1201)  lie  swore  to  pro- 
tect to  the  utmost  all  the  possessions,  honours,  and 
rights  of  the  Poman  Church,  both  those  which  it 
alreadv  held  and  those  which  he  would  help  it  to 
recover.  The  extent  of  land  was  defined  as  including 
not  only  the  Patrimony  dI  St.  Peter  (from  Padicofani 


INNOCENT    III  153 


to  Ceperaiio),  but  also  the  Exarchate,  the  Pentapolis, 
the  March  of  Ancona,  the  Diicliy  of  Spoleto,  and  the 
territories  of  the  Countess  Matilda. 

But  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  years  Innocent 
was  obliged  to  take  up  a  totally  different  attitude  in 
this  struggle  in  consequence  of  disappoint- 
ments elsewhere.  There  were  two  sucli  ^^^ 
which  fell  especially  heavily  upon  him  Philip 
during  the  first  half  of  his  reign.  He  in-  Augustus 
herited  from  his  predecessor  a  quarrel  with 
Philip  Augustus  of  France.  Philip  lost  his  first  wife 
in  1190;  in  1193  his  designs  against  England  caused 
him  to  marry  Ingebiorg,  a  sister  of  the  King  of  Den- 
mark. Immediately  after  the  marriage  he  took  a 
dislike  to  her,  refused  to  live  with  her,  and  obtained 
from  an  assembly  of  his  own  clergy  a  sentence  of 
divorce,  founded  on  an  allegation  of  some  very  distant 
relationship  between  him  and  his  hew  wife.  Ingebiorg 
and  her  brother  appealed  to  Pope  Celestine  III,  who 
declared  the  sentence  of  divorce  illegal  and  null.  Philip 
not  only  paid  no  attention  to  the  numerous  letters  and 
les^ates  of  the  Podc,  but  he  tried  to  make  the  divorce 
irrevocable  by  taking  a  new  wife.  After  several  re- 
buffs he  found  in  Agnes  of  Meran,  the  daughter  of  a 
Bavarian  noble,  one  who  was  willing  to  accept  the 
dubious  position  (1196).  Innocent  III  at  once  took  up 
an  uncompromising  attitude,  and  instructed  his  legates 
that  if  Philip  refused  to  send  away  Agnes  and  to 
restore  Ingebiorg,  they  should  put  the  kingdom  under 
an  interdict  preparatory  to  a  sentence  of  personal 
excommunication  against  Philip  and  Agnes  them- 
selves. Those  bishops  who  dared  to  publish  the  inter- 
dict were  seriously  maltreated  by  the  King ;  but  after 


154         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 

nine  niunllis  of  resisUmce  the  distress  of  his  peo}»le  at 
the  cessation  of  religious  services  caused  liim  to  submit ; 
he  pretended  to  take  back  Ingebiorg,  and  the  interdict 
was  raised  (1200).  But  he  did  not  send  away  Agnes, 
and  a  renewal  of  the  interdict  was  only  averted  by 
Agnes'  death  in  1201.  Innocent,  desiring  to  be  con- 
ciliatory, actually  declared  Agnes'  two  children  legiti- 
mate. Philip  still,  however,  pressed  for  a  divorce  from 
Ingebiorg,  declaring  that  he  was  bewitched  by  her. 
After  his  victory  over  John  of  England  in  1204  he 
became  more  than  ever  obdurate  to  ])apal  remon- 
strances, and  he  even  contemplated  a  new  marriage. 
Innocent  was  not  in  a  position  to  drive  him  to  ex- 
tremes, and  was  obliged  to  temporise  for  a  time. 
Eventually,  however,  he  reduced  I'hilip  to  submission. 
But  Innocent  suOered  more  definite  defeat  in  the 
matter  of  the  Crusade.     The  crusadint^  fervour  had 

much  diminished,  and  it  has  been  pointed 
„  ^    .^"'^      out  as  characteristic  of  the  Si^jie  that  a  fourth 

crusade  was  determined  on  at  a  tournament 
in  Champagne  in  1199.  Celestine  III  had  vainly  tried 
to  rouse  the  interest  of  Europe,  but  the  preaching  of 
Fulk,  the  priest  of  Neuilly,  recalled  the  efforts  and  the 
success  of  Peter  the  Hermit  and  St.  Bernard.  Innocent 
III  lent  his  whole  inlluence  to  the  enterprise.  But 
from  the  first  everything  seemed  to  go  contrary  to  his 
wishes.  The  death  of  Theobald  of  Champagne  (1201), 
who  was  the  papal  nominee  for  the  leadership,  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  crusaders  Boniface,  Marquis  of 
Montserrat,  an  Italian  and  kinsman  of  Philip  of  France 
and  a  typical  representative  of  the  worst  side  of 
feudalism.  From  that  moment  Innocent  lost  all  con- 
trol over  the  expedition.     Instead  of  going  directly  to 


INNOCENT    III  155 


the  Holy  Land,  tlie  barons  decided  to  attack  the 
Moliammedan  power  in  Egypt — perhaps  the  sounder 
policy.  Tliey  made  an  agreement  with  the  Venetians 
to  find  the  shipping  for  the  host  in  return  for  a  large 
sum  of  money.  But  the  long  delay  caused  many 
crusaders  to  set  off  to  the  Holy  Land ;  so  that  when 
the  main  force  arrived  at  Venice  it  was  so  diminished 
in  numbers  that  the  leaders  could  not  raise  the  sum 
for  which  they  had  pledged  themselves  to  Venice. 
Probably  there  was  no  deep-laid  plot  for  the  diversion 
of  the  crusading  host  from  the  first.  But  the  Vene- 
tians suddenly  found  themselves  with  the  practical 
direction  of  a  formidable  army ;  they  had  enemies  in 
the  Adriatic  against  whom  they  had  hitherto  been 
powerless ;  they  had  old  causes  of  rivalry  and  enmity 
with  Constantinople.  At  the  same  time  King  Philip 
of  Germany  was  urging  the  cause  of  his  brother-in-law, 
"who  had  been  deposed  from  the  Byzantine  throne. 
The  crusaders,  unwilling  to  disperse  and  unable  to 
insist,  allowed  themselves  to  be  diverted,  first  to  an 
attack  upon  Zara,  a  nest  of. pirates  in  the  Adriatic, 
although  it  belonged  to  the  King  of  Hungary,  who  was 
himself  a  crusader ;  and  then  to  Constantinople,  which 
they  ultimately  captured  (1204),  and  where  they  set 
up  a  Latin  Empire.  Innocent  did  everything  to  pre- 
vent this  diversion  of  his  cherished  scheme.  He 
forbade  the  attack  upon  Zara,  he  excommunicated  the 
Venetians  for  going  to  Constantinople,  and  threatened 
the  whole  host  with  the  same  penalty.  But  he  was 
powerless.  The  few  in  the  army  who  were  moved  by 
some  of  the  crusading  spirit  were  overruled ;  and  when 
the  papal  legates  for  the  expedition  to  Palestine  joined 
the  army  at  Constantinople,  all  thought  of  going  on  to 


156         THE  CHURCH    A\D   THE  EMPIRE 

Palestine  was  abandoned.  Innocent  was  forced  to 
accept  what  was  done  and  to  console  himself  with  the 
thouglit  of  the  blow  thus  dealt  to  the  Eastern  Cliurch. 
These  rebuffs  seriously  diminished  Innocent's  in- 
tluence   in   Europe  fur  a  time.     Moreover,  Innocent 

soon  had  reason  to  regret  liis  championship 
d^fficult"^'^     of  Otto,     rhilip  was  wealthy  and  personally 

popular,  while  Otto's  brusquerie  and  selfish- 
ness alienated  many  supporters.  Consequently  from 
1203  Philip  distinctly  obtained  the  upper  hand,  and  at 
length  in  1207  Innocent  opened  negotiations  with  him. 
But  these  were  rendered  futile  when  Philip  fell  victim 
to  the  assassin's  knife  in  June,  1208.  Otto's  acceptance 
now  became  inevitable,  and  he  did  everything  to  con- 
ciliate his  opponents.  He  submitted  himself  to  a  fresh 
election  by  the  German  nobles,  and  won  the  Hohen- 
staufen  by  marrying  Beatrice,  the  daughter  of  his  late 
rival.  He  made  new  concessions  to  the  Pope,  which 
practically  amounted  to  a  renunciation  of  the  powers 
confirmed  to  the  Emperor  in  the  matter  of  elections 
by  the  Concordat  of  Worms ;  he  undertook  to  give  up 
the  right  of  spoils  and  to  help  in  the  eradication  of 
heresy.  And  all  this  he  promised  because  he  was 
"  King  of  the  Pomans  by  the  grace  of  God  and  of  the 
Pope." 

But  Otto's  acceptance  was  only  the  beginning  of  the 
end.     He  knew  that  he  owed  liis  position  merely  to 

the  accident  of  Philip's  death  and  to  the 

,    °  ^  absence  of  any  eli<dble  Hohenstaufen  can- 

designs.  . 

didate.  He  had  therefore  no  feelings  of 
gratitude  towards  Innocent.  Moreover,  he  was  now 
surrounded  by  Ghibelline  influences,  and  was  anxious 
to  be  crowned  em[)eror.     Thus,  despite  his  promises  of 


INNOCENT    III  157 


1201  and  1209,  to  recover  to  the  Papacy  all  the  lands 
and  riglita  which  it  claimed,  he  Ijegan  to  realise  that 
the  task  to  whicli  he  must  give  himself  was  the  restora- 
tion of  the  connection  between  Italy  and  Germany, 
which  had  been  entirely  broken  since  Henry  Vl's 
death.  In  fact,  this  Guelf  prince  took  up  the  work  of 
the  Hohenstaufen.  When,  therefore,  Otto  and  Inno- 
cent met  in  Italy  a  year  later,  Otto  declined  to  give 
more  than  a  verbal  promise  that  after  his  coronation 
he  would  do  what  was  right.  Innocent,  in  return,  did 
not  refuse  the  crown  indeed,  but  made  a  new  departure 
in  naming  Otto  Emperor  without  consecrating  him  as 
such,  and  thus  denied  to  him  the  divinity  of  the  imperial 
office  (October,  1209). 

Otto  immediately  set  to  work.     He  recovered  for 
the  Empire  all  the  lands  of  Central  Italy  which  Inno- 
cent  had    already   annexed    to    the    papal 
dominions,  including',  of  course,  the  Matil-         °^ 

'  ^'  -r»  -r.        P  success. 

dan  inheritance  ;  he  made  the  Koman  Prefect 
an  imperial  officer  again ;  and  entering  into  alliance 
with  the  German  followers  of  Henry  VI,  who  had 
never  been  entirely  dislodged  from  the  southern  king- 
dom, he  overran  Apulia  and  prepared,  by  the  aid  of  a 
fleet  lent  by  Pisa,  to  pass  over  into  Sicily.  Innocent 
did  everything  in  his  power  to  check  the  conqueror. 
He  excommunicated  him  (August,  1210);  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  the  old  ally  of 
Henry  VI,  he  roused  disaffection  against  Otto  among 
the  German  nobles.  Innocent  was  somewhat  taken 
aback  when  Otto's  subjects,  finding  that  the  Pope  in 
his  anathema  had  absolved  them  from  their  fealty  to 
the  King,  held  Otto  as  deposed,  and  proceeded  to  elect 
in  liis  place  the  young  Frederick  Koger,  Henry  Vl's 


158    THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPHiE 


son  and  the  papal  ward,  who  was  already  King  of  ) 
Sicily.  This  choice  also  threatened  to  produce  that 
very  union  of  Germany  and  Italy  which  Otto  was  bent 
on  accomplishing.  But  the  need  of  checking  Otto 
forced  Innocent  to  acquiesce,  and  Frederick  did  every- 
thing to  allay  the  papal  fears. 

Since  Frederick  could  not  stop  Otto's  progress  in  the 
south,  it  was  arranged  that  he  sliould  go  north  to 
Innocent  Germany  in  the  hope  of  drawing  Otto  away, 
and  Before   he   left,   Frederick  had   his   young 

Frederick,  child  Henry  crowned,  as  an  earnest  that  he 
did  not  intend  to  join  the  kingdom  he  was  going  to 
seek  with  that  which  he  already  held.  He  passed 
through  Eome  on  his  way  north,  and  Innocent  obtained 
.  from  him  a  repetition  of  his  liege  homage  for  Sicily 
1  and  a  promise  that  the  two  kingdoms  should  be  kept 
separate.  In  return  Innocent  gave  him  the  title  of 
"  Emperor  elect  by  the  grace  of  God  and  of  the  Pope," 
and  supplied  him  with  money.  Innocent  thus  hoped 
that  he  had  taken  every  precaution  to  avoid  the 
dangers  whicli  he  feared,  while  Frederick,  young  and 
inexperienced,  seems  to  have  accepted  the  conditions 
willingly  and  to  liave  intended  to  keep  them.  His 
amljition  and  the  unexpected  prospects  thus  opened  to 
him  led  him  on  regardless  of  consequences. 

Frederick's   move   was   perfectly   successful     Otto 
rushed  back  to  Germany,  and  the  death  of  liis  wife 
Beatrice    did    away    witli    any   obligations 
Otto's  ^£    loyalty    which    the    partisans    of    the 

failure.  Hohenstaufen    might    have     felt    towards 

liim.  Frederick  was  elected  and  crowned  (December, 
1212),  and  renewed  tlie  old  Hohenstaufen  league  with 
France.     Otto  turned  for  lielp  to  liis  uncle,  John  of 


INNOCENT    in  159 


England.     Jolm   was  excommnnicate,  bnt  now  made 

his  peace  witli  the  Pope.    PhiHp,  at  first  encouraged  1)y 

Innocent  to  attack    England   and   then   after  John's 

submission  forbidden  to  go,  turned  his  arms  against 

Flanders.     A   coalition  was  formed  against  him,  and 

was  joined  by  John  and  by  Otto ;  but  Philip's  victory 

at  Bouvines  (July,  1214)  broke  up  the  coalition  and  put 

an  end  to  Otto's  hopes.     For  the   four  years  of  life    j 

which  remained  to  him   his   power  was   confined   to 

Brunswick. 

Meanwhile  Frederick  had,  as  it  were,  put  the  crown 

upon  his  work  of  submission  to  the  Papacy.     By  the 

I  Golden  Bull  (July,  1213),  he  repeated  the   ^    ,    .  ,  , 
I  \        t/  '  J-  ^       Frederick  s 

promises  which  Otto  had  made  at  Neuss  in  acceptance 
1201  with  the  additions  of  1209.  In  1215 
he  went  throuo'h  a  second  and  more  formal  coronation  at 
Aachen,  and  took  the  cross  in  conjunction  with  a 
number  of  German  nobles.  In  1216  he  further  pro- 
mised, in  a  formal  deed,  that  in  return  for  the  imperial 
crown  his  son  Henry  should  become  King  of  Sicily, 
entirely  independently  from  himself  and  under  the 
supremacy  of  the  Eoman  Church.  Thus  Frederick  in 
his  eagerness  put  himself  completely  in  the  hands  of 
the  Papacy. 

Otto's  cause  had  been  linked  with  that  of  his  uncle 
John,  over  whom   Innocent   won  the  greatest  of  his 
victories.     On  a  vacancy  in  th.e  see  of  Can-    innocent 
terbury   (1206)   the   right    of   election  was    and 
disputed,  as  usual,  between  the  monks  of    England, 
the  monastery  of  Christchurch  at  Canterbury  and  the 
bishops  of  the  province.     King   John    thrust   in  his 
nominee.     Innocent  settled  the  matter  by  making  an 
appointment  of  his  own.     But  John  refused  to  accept 


i6o         THE   CHURCH   AND    THE    EMPIRE 

/  Stephen  Langton;  and  Innocent  proceeded  to  force  his 
^  consent.  In  1208  the  country  was  laid  under  an 
mterdict;  and  John  treated  the  bishops  who  puhHshed 
it  as  Phihp  Augustus  had  treated  tlie  French  bishops 
ten  years  before.  In  1209  Innocent  excommunicated 
/  John,  and  in  1212  declared  him  deposed.  Despite  the 
continued  obstinacy  of  Philip  of  France  in  the  matter 
of  Ingebiorg,  Innocent  called  upon  him  to  execute  the 
papal  sentence ;  and  Philip,  thinking  that  the  aid  of 
Denmark  would  be  useful,  ended  the    twenty  years' 

j    dispute   and  accorded  to    Ingebiorg  the   position   of 

\^  Queen  for  the  rest  of  his  reign.  It  was  certainly  a 
measure  of  the  growing  strength  of  the  royal  power  in 
France  that  it  had  been  able  to  defy  the  Papacy  for  so 
long  in  a  matter  in  which  the  King  was  so  clearly  in 
the  wrong.     Philip's  threatened  attack  brought  John 

I  to  his  knees  :  and  in  1213  he  not  only  accepted  Stephen 
Langton,  but  even  surrendered  his  kim^dom  to  the 
Papacy  to  receive  it  Ijack  as  a  papal  tief,  and  under- 
took to  pay  an  annual  tribute.  The  sequel  was  not 
c[uite  so  satisfactory  for  Innocent  The  surrender  to 
the  Pope  and  the  defeat  at  Bou vines  so  enraged  the 
barons  and  clergy  in  England  that  they  combined  to 
force  John  to  sign  Magna  Carta  (1215).  Put  John 
was  now  under  the  protection  of  the  Pope ;  and 
although  Innocent's  own  archltishop  took  the  lead  in 
the  movement  against  J.ohn,  Innocent  issued  a  bull  in 
condemnation  of  the  cliarter;  but  so  long  as  John 
lived,  even  the  interdict  and  excommunication  which 
followed  failed  to  move  the  barons.  Innocent's  suc- 
cessors reaped  the  benefit  of  his  triumph  in  the  in- 

j  Huence  which  tliey  were  able  to  exert  in  England 
during  the  greater  })art  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III. 


INNOCENT    III  i6i 


Nor  was  John  the  only  Kingj  who  laid  his  crown  at 


o 


the  feet  of  the  Pope.  Teter,  King  of  Aragon,  hoped  to 
escape  the  claims  of  the  Kmg  of  Castile  innocent's 
and  tlio  tyranny  of  his  uwn  barons  by  successes 
making  his  kingdom  tributary  to  the  Papacy,  i"  Europe. 
Prince  John  of  Bulgaria  actually  asked  for  and  obtained 
a  royal  crown  from  Innocent.  The  struggles  of  Sancho, 
King  of  PortugaiTtoTre^  himself  from  the  submission 
made  by  a  predecessor  ended  in  failure.  Leo,  King  of 
Armenia,  sought  the  papal  protection  against  the 
crusaders.  The  King  of  Denmark  appealed  to  Innocent 
on  behalf  of  his  much-wronged  sister.  The  contending 
parties  in  Hungary  listened  to  his  mediation. 

But  we  have  already  seen  that  Innocent  was  not 
always  successful,  and  that  most  of  his  successes  were 
won  only  after  a  prolonged  contest.  Their  matrimonial 
irregularities  brought  him  into  conflict  with  nearly  all 
the  Christian  Kings  of  Spain,  and  the  kingdom  of  Leon 
was  struck  by  an  interdict  which  was  not  removed 
for  five  years.  It  was  a  more  serious  matter  for  the 
future  that  the  papal  acts  for  the  first  time  roused  the 
opposition  of  the  people  in  more  than  one  instance ; 
while  it  is  right  to  notice  that  Innocent  often  got 
acknowledgment  of  his  claim  to  adjudicate  by  accept- 
ing what  had  already  been  done.  But  despite  some 
notable  failures,  he  did  meet  with  considerable  success ; 
and  since  he  got  so  much,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
aimed  at  more.  Perhaps  the  greatest  disappointment 
of  his  life  was  the  failure  of  the  Fourth  Crusade. 
Innocent  found  some  compensation  in  the  great  victory 
won  by  the  united  chivalry  of  Spain  and  France  over 
the  Almohades  on  the  field  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa  in 
1212.     But  he  is  responsible  for  inventing  a  new  kind 

M 


i62         THE    CHURCH   AND   THE  EMPIRE 

(  of  crusade — that  of  Christians  against  Christians — in 
the  undoubtedly  papal  duty  of  dealing  with  the  Albi- 
gensian  heretics ;  and  it  is,  in  modern  eyes  at  least, 
a  small  condonation  that  he  encouraged  the  founder  of 
the  Dominicans  and  received  Francis  of  Assisi  with 
sympathy. 

Innocent's  pontificate  ended  in  a  blaze  of  glory. 
After  the  settlement  of  the  strife  in  Germany  he  called 
The  Fourth  together  a  Council  which  is  distinguished  as 
Lateral!  the  Fourth  Lateran  or  the  Twelfth  (Ecu- 
Council,  menical  Council.  It  met  in  1215,  and  was 
composed  of  more  than  two  thousand  persons,  includ- 
ing envoys  from  all  the  chief  nations  of  'Eurojie.  Its 
resolutions  were  embodied  in  seventy  canons  dealing 
with  a  vast  variety  of  subjects  in  the  endeavour  to 
brinc^  about  a  drastic  reformation  of  the  Church.  This 
is  perhaps  Innocent's  most  solid  claim  to  the  name  of 
a  great  ruler.  But  it  only  serves  to  emphasise  the 
wholly  external  nature  of  his  rule.  And  subsequent 
ages  have  recognised  this  limitation  to  his  claims  for 
honour  in  that,  while  they  have  freely  accorded  to  him 
the  name  of  a  great  man  and  a  great  Pope,  if  not  the 
greatest  of  the  pontic's,  the  Church  has  never  added  his 
name  to  the  role  of  Christian  saints. 


CHAPTER     X 
THE    PAPAL   POWER   IN   THE   CHURCH 

THE    interest   of   the   period    with   which  we   are 
deaHiig  is  largely  concerned  with  the  attempted 
definition  of  the  relations  between  Church    -Yhe  basis 
and  State.    (The  peculiar  form  of  mediaeval    of  papal 
thought  resolved  this  into  a  struggle  of  the    claims, 
papal  power  to  make  itself  supreme  over  all  temporal 
rulers.      But  scarcely  less  important  or  interesting  is 
the  concomitant  efibrt  of  the  Papacy  to  gather  up  into 
itself  the  whole  immediate  authority  of  the  Churchy 

This  effort  was  very  materially  helped  by  the  fact 
that  various  national  churches  which  had  retained 
their  own  customs  were  gradually  brought  into  com^ 
munion  with  Rome.  William  the  Conqueror  put  an 
end  to  the  schism  which  had  cut  off  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Church  from  Rome,  and  drew  the  Church  in  England 
into  closer  contact  with  Rome  tlian  she  had  enjoyed 
since  the  days  of  Archbishop  Theodore.  Through 
Queen  Margaret,  the  Anglo-Saxon  wife  of  Malcolm 
Canmore,  Roman  customs  superseded  those  of  the 
Celtic  Church  in  Scotland.  Gregory  VII  prevailed  on 
the  Spanish  churches  to  accept  the  Roman  for  the 
Mozarabic  liturgy.  Alexander  III  attracted  to  Rome 
the  long-isolated  Church  in  Ireland,  and  Innocent  II 
reconciled  the  Milanese  at  last  to  the  papal  supremacy. 
T|iefoundation  for  the  high  claims  on  the  part  of  the 
Papacy  rested   on  what  are   known  as  the  Pseudo- 


i64         THE  CHURCH   AND   THK    EMPIRE 

Isidorian  Decretals.  Decretals  are  answers  to  questions 
referred  to  the  Bishop  oFTlome  from  other  cliurches. 
"Ttre  earliest  of  tliese  was  of  date  385.  Compilations  of 
the  Canons  of  the  Church,  in  whicli  tliese  answers  were 
included,  were  put  out  in  the  sixth  and  the  seventh 
centuries,  the  latter  under  the  name  of  Bishop  Isidore 
of  Seville.  In  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  appeared 
a  third  compilation,  also  published  under  the  name  of 
Isidore,  and  containing  fifty-nine  additional  letters  and 
decrees  of  earlier  date  than  385.  Inasmuch  as  the 
Latin  edition  of  the  Bible,  which  St.  Jerome  did  not 
translate  until  about  the  year  400,  is  quoted  in  some 
of  these,  this  compilation  has  not  unnaturally  been 
styled  the  False  or  Forged  or  Pseudo -Isidorian 
Decretals.  The  object  of  this  forgery  was  the  exalta-  \ 
tion  of  the  Papacy  as  "  the  supreme  lord,  lawgiver, 
and  judge  of  the  Church,"  since  all  previous  claims  \ 
were  brought  toi^ether  and  were  referred  back  to  the  ) 
foundation  of  Christianity.  Two  centuries  later 
another  document  of  doubtful  authenticity,  called 
Didatus  Fapae,  sets  forth  in  a  sufficiently  true  spirit 
the  princi})le3  proclaimed  by  Gregory  VI  I.  /This 
states,  among  other  things,  that  the  Koman  pontiff 
can  alone  be  called  Universal,  that  his  name  is  unique 
in  the  world,  that  he  ought  to  be  judged  by  none ;  and 
it  ascribes  to  him,  without  the  intervention  of  any 
intermediary,  the  supreme  and  immediate  power  in  all 
executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  matters.^ 

The  history  of  the  Church  during  the  two  succeeding 
centuries  is  merely  an  exemplification  of  these  claims. 
It  was  in  the  spirit  of  this  document  that  Innocent  II, 
in  the  speech  with  which  lie  opened  the  Second  Lateran 
Council  in  1139,  reminded  liis  hearers  that  Home  was 


THE   PAPAL  POWER    IN   THE  CHUIU  II      165 


the  head  of  the  world,  and  that  tlie  highest  ecclesiastical 

ofiices  were  derived  from  the  llonian  pontiff  as  by 

a  kind  of  feudal  ric^ht,  and  conld  not  be  law-    ^^    „ 

^  .     .  The  Pope 

fully  held  without  his  permission.    Innocent    ^^^  gQjg 
III,  we  have  seen,  describes  himself  as  the    authority 
Vicar  of  God  or  of  Jesus   Christ.      Thus,    i"  the 
although   the    Pope  is   potentially  present 
everywhere  in  the  Church,  he  cannot  exercise  the  great 
power  belonging  to  the  office  personally,  so  that  he  has 
called  in  his  brethren,  the  co-bishops,  to  share  in  the 
care  of  the  burden  entrusted  to  himself ;  but  in  doing  so 
he  has  subtracted  in  no  whit  from  the  fulness  of  power 
which  enables  him  to  enquire  into  individual  cases  and  to 
assume  the  office  of  judge  at  will.     Others,  then,  may 
be  admitted  to  a  share  in   the  care  of   the   Church 
{imrs  solicit udinis) ;  but  to  the  Pope  has  been  given 
the  fulness  of  power  {phnitndo  ])otestcitis).     Thomas 
Aquinas  shows   how   bishop   and  archbishop    equally 
derive    their    authority    fiom    the    Pope,    and   finds 
parallels  to  the  relationship   between    the   Pope  and 
the   other  officers  of   the    Church  in  the  dependence 
of  all  things  created  upon  God  and  the  subordination 
of   the   proconsul   to   the   Emperor.     This    deliberate 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  Papacy  to  absorb  into  itself 
the  whole  spiritual  authority  of  the  Church  may  be 
traced   in  its  attempts   to  set  itself  up  as  supreme 
administrator,  supreme  lawgiver,  and  supreme  judge. 
Before  the  Pope  could  claim  to  be  supreme  admin- 
istrator within  t]ie  Church  it  was  necessary    ^,     p 
to  deprive  all  other  ecclesiastical  officers  of    as  supreme 
their   independence.     The    custom    of    the    adminis- 
gift  of  the  pall  to  archbishops  who  exer-    Orator, 
cised  the  office  of  Metropolitans  had  already  made  these 


i66         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 


/ 


highest  ollicers  of  all  into  little  more  than  delegates 
of  the  Papacy.  Gregory  VII  failed  in  his  attempt  to 
force  them  to  come  in  person  to  liome  in  order  to 
receive  the  pall.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  imposing 
upon  them  an  oath  which,  founded  upon  the  oath 
of  fealty,  made  their  position  analogous  to  that  of  a 
feudal  vassal.  By  this  a  Metropolitan  swore  to  be 
faithful  to  St.  Peter  and  the  Pope  and  his  successors 
who  should  have  been  canonically  elected;  that  he 
would  be  no  party  to  violence  against  the  Pope ;  that 
he  would  attend  in  person  or  by  representatives  at 
every  synod  to  which  the  Pope  summoned  him ;  that, 
saving  the  rights  of  his  Order,  he  would  help  to 
defend  the  Papacy  and  all  its  possessions  and  honours; 
that  he  would  not  betray  any  trust  reposed  in  him 
by  the  Pope;  that  he  would  honourably  treat  the 
papal  legate;  that  he  would  not  knowingly  com- 
municate with  excommunicates ;  that  when  asked  he 
would  faithfully  help  the  Eoraan  Church  w^ith  a  force 
of  soldiers.  To  this  w^as  often  added  an  undertaking 
that  he  w^ould  appear  at  Home  himself  or  by  a  repre- 
sentative at  stated  intervals ;  that  he  would  cause  his 
suffragans  at  their  consecration  to  take  an  oath  of 
obedience  to  the  Eoman  pontiff;  that  he  would  not 
part  with  anything  belonging  to  his  official  position 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  Eoman  See. 

Gregory's  successors  imposed  this  oath  by  degrees 

on   all    Inshops,  and    thus  gradually   sul)stituted    the 

Pope  for  the  Metropolitan.     The  iJidatus 

Claim  over  j.^^^,  claimed  for   the  I'ope  the  right  of 

bishoprics.       ^    ^      .  •      ^   ^-  i  •  i  -u        <- 

deposing    or    reinstating    l)isliops    without 

reference  to  a  synod  ;   of  transferring  a  bishop  from 

one  see  to  another ;  of  dividing  a  wealthy  see  or  join- 


THE   PAPAL  POWER   IN  THE  CHURCH     167 


ing  together  poor  bishoprics.     It  was  the  papal  policy 
to  champion  the  suffragans  against  tlie  Metropolitans 
until  the  original  metropolitical  power  of  confirming 
the  elections   of   their  newly  elected   suffragans  and 
consecrating  them  to  the  episcopal  office  was  entirely 
superseded   by   the   growing  authority  of   the  Pope. 
The  right  of  confirmation  implied  the  power  of  quash- 
ing  an   election,  and   this  could   easily  grow  into  a 
power  of   direct  appointment.     This  last  power  was 
only   exercised   habitually   in   certain   cases — after  a 
vacancy  had  lasted  for  a  certain  time;  if  the  bishop 
had  died  at  Eome ;  if  the  bishop  had  been  transferred 
from  one  see  to  another.    From  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century  cases  are  found  of  bishops  designated  to  be 
such,  not  only,  according  to  the  ancient  formula,  "  by 
the  grace  of  God,"  but  also  by  that  "  of  the  Apostolic 
See,"  and  such  description  becomes  fairly  common  in 
the  thirteenth  century. 

And  as  the  Popes  passed  over  Metropolitans  in  order 
to  obtain  a  direct  hold  on  the  suffragans,  so  they  went 
on  in  course  of  time  to  pass  over  the  bishop 
in  every  diocese  by  claiming  the  disposition    i^g^g'^^.^g^'^ 
of  individual  benefices.    Such  a  claim  began 
in  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century  in  letters  of 
recommendation   and   petitions   for  the    appointment 
of  papal  favourites  to  prebends  or  benefices.     But  so 
quickly  did  this  system  develop  that  where  Hadrian 
IV  recommended  Alexander  III  commanded,  and  tlie 
mandates  of  Innocent  III  were  enforced  by  specially 
appointed   officers.     Clement    IV  lays   it   down   that 
ancient  custom  has  specially  reserved  to  the  Roman 
pontiff   the  collation   of   churches    and    offices   which 
become  vacant  through  the  death    of   the   holder  at 


i6S         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 


Eome,  but  tliat  this  is  only  part  of  the  greater  right 
which  is  known  to  belong  to  Eome  and  gives  to  the 
Pontiff  the  full  disposal  {i^lcnaria  disjmitio)  of  all 
otlices  and  benefices  both  at  the  time  of  vacancy  and 
by  provision  beforehand.  But  so  flagrant  was  the 
abuse  of  this  power  of  appointment  that  it  roused 
the  indignant  remonstrance  of  the  most  ardent  sup- 
porters of  the  papal  authority  in  the  Church.  England 
under  Henry  III  was  so  much  exploited  by  its  papal 
guardian  as  to  gain  the  name  of  the  "  Milch-cow  of  the 
Papacy  "  ;  but  there  were  many  protests. 

Eobert  Grossteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  the  most  re- 
vered English  Churchman  of  the  thirteenth  century, 

was  bidden  by  Innocent  IV  to  find  a  canonry 
Clerical        -^^  j^-g  cathedral  for  a  nominee  of  the  Pope, 

who,  moreover,  was  still  a  child.  He  an- 
swered in  a  rebuke  of  such  severity  and  dignity  as  can 
have  rarely  been  addressed  to  Eome  by  one  devoted  to 
its  service.  ''Next  to  the  sin  of  Lucifer,"  he  tells  the 
Pope,  "  there  is  not,  there  cannot  be,  any  kind  of  sin  so 
adverse  and  contrary  to  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  the 
Apostles  as  the  destruction  of  souls  by  defrauding  tliem 
of  the  duty  and  service  of  a  pastor."  He  adds  tliat  the 
most  holy  Apostolic  See  cannot  command  anything 
that  tends  to  a  sin  of  such  a  kind  except  l)y  some 
defect  or  abuse  of  its  plenary  power :  tliat  no  faithful 
servant  of  tlie  Papacy  would  comply  with  a  command 
of  that  kind  "  even  if  it  issued  from  the  highest  order 
of  angels " ;  and  he  therefore,  Jllialiter  d  ohedienter, 
llatly  refuses  to  obey.  Scarcely  less  severe  were  tlie 
strictures  of  Louis  IX's  ambassadors,  who  laid  the 
grievances  of  tlie  French  bishops  and  barons  before 
the  same  Pope.    They  tell  Innocent  IV  that  the  devo- 


THE   PAPAL  POWER    IN   THE  CHURCH     169 

tion  which  the  French  people  have  hitherto  felt  towards 
the  Koiiian  Church  is  now  not  only  extinguished,  but 
is  turned  into  vehement  hate  and  rancour,  and  that  the 
claim  for  subsidies  and  tribute  for  every  necessity  of 
Rome — a  claim  which  was  enforced  by  the  threat  of 
excommunication — was  unheard  of  in  previous  ages. 

The  Pope  also  gradually  established  his  authority  as 
supreme  and  sole  lawgiver  within  the  Church.  The 
Dictatus  Payae  asserts  that  for  him  alone  it  -pj^g  p^pg 
is  lawful  to  frame  new  laws  to  meet  the  as  supreme 
needs  of  the  time.  Meanwhile  the  Forged  legislator. 
Decretals  had  found  their  place  in  the  various  collec- 
tions of  the  Canons  made  in  the  eleventh  and  early 
twelftli  centuries.  In  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury Gratian,  a  Benedictine  monk  of  Bologna,  put  out 
his  Concordantia  discordantiumi  Canonum,  commonly 
known  as  the  Dccreticm  Gratiani,  which  combined  a  / 
theoretical  disquisition  with  illustrations  drawn  from 
the  documents  which  had  appeared  in  previous  collec- 
tions. This  became  the  standard  mediaeval  treatise  in 
ecclesiastical  law^,  and  its  appearance  much  encouraged 
the  systematic  study  of  the  Canon  law.  The  Popes  of 
the  succeeding  century  and  a  half  made  great  additions 
to  the  law  of  the  Church,  partly  through  the  decrees 
issued  by  the  General  Lateran  Councils,  partly  by  their 
own  edicts.  Such  new  matter  was  embodied  from  time 
to  time.  Thus  in  1234  the  Dominican 
Raymund  de  Pennaforte  gathered  five  books  J^^  ^^"°" 
of  Decretals  at  the  command  of  Gregory 
IX ;  Boniface  VIII  was  responsible  for  a  sixth  book  in 
1298,  wliile  other  additions  were  made  by  Clement  V 
(1308)  and  John  XXII  (1317).  All  these,  together 
with  the  earlier  compilations  and  some  later  additions, 


1 


lyo         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 

formed  the  Corpus  Juris  Ca)Lonici.  This  enormous  body- 
of  law  was  full  of  contradictions  and  not  devoid  of 
falsification  and  forgery.  The  growing  study  of  it 
caused  the  foundation  of  Chairs  at  tlie  universities, 
and  the  Popes  found  it  a  most  convenient  method  to 
publish  their  new  decrees  through  the  lecture-rooms. 
The  old  Canon  Law  was  entirely  superseded  by  the 
later  Papal  Law. 

The  Popes  made  no  pretence  of  hiding  their  claims 
to  the  legislative  power.  Urban  II  strongly  aftirms 
Power  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  always  been  in  the  power  of  the 

over  Roman  Pontiff  to  frame  new  laws ;  and  two 

Councils.  centuries  later  Boniface  YIII  embodies  in 
his  addition  to  the  Canon  Law  the  words  of  an  earlier 
writer,  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  is  considered  to  hold  all 
laws  in  the  repository  of  liis  breast.  There  was  no 
room  in  such  a  theory  for  any  effective  co-operation  of 
ecclesiastical  Councils,  however  representative.  The 
Dictatus  Ftqocic  declares  that  no  General  Council  can  j 
be  held  without  the  papal  command.  Pascal  II  points 
out  that  no  Council  can  dictate  the  law  of  the  Church, 
because  every  Council  comes  into  existence  and  receives 
its  power  by  autliority  of  Rome,  and  in  its  statutes  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  is  clearly  not  interfered  with. 
But  the  Popes  often  found  it  convenient  to  obtain  the 
sanction  of  a  General  Council  for  their  legislation,  and 
the  four  Lateran  Councils  (1123,  1139,  1179,  1215) 
were  the  occasions  for  great  and  important  additions 
to  tlie  Canon  Law.  lint  from  the  time  of  the  third 
Lateran  Council,  at  all  events,  all  ordinances  of  a 
General  Council  were  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Pope, 
althougli  the  approval  or  the  fact  of  the  Council  was 
likewise  expressed.    Thomas  xV(j[uinas  merely  expresses 


THE   PAPAL  POWER   IN  THE  CHURCH     171 


the  recognised  law  of  the  Church  wlien  he  says  that 

the  Holy  Fathers  gathered  together  in  Councils  can 

make   no    laws   except    by    tlie    intervention    of    the 

authority    of   the    Eoman    Pontiff,    for   witliout    tliat 

authority  a  Council  cannot  even  meet. 

It   followed  from   this  assumption  of  the  supreme       , 

legislative  power  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  Pope  him-     / 

self  claimed  not  to  be  bound  by  the  laws 

which   he  made.     Thus  in   the    thirteenth      °P^^, 

above  law. 

century  papal  writers  denied  that  the  Eoman 
Church  could  commit  simony.  Certain  acts  are  simoni- 
acal  because  they  have  been  prohibited  as  such  by 
Canon  Law ;  but  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  Pope  who  had 
forbidden  them,  the  prohibition  does  not  bind  him. 
And  in  virtue  of  this  power,  from  the  time  of  Innocent 
IV  the  Popes  added  to  their  bulls  a  no7i  ohstantc 
clause  whereby  they  suspended  in  a  particular  instance 
all  laws  or  rights  which  might  otherwise  stand  in  the 
way  of  their  grant. 

It  followed,  further,  that  the  Pope  claimed  also  the 
power  of  granting  dispensations  from  existing  laws  and 
absolution   for   their  infringement.     Every    p^pal 
bishop  was  armed  with  the  power  of  grant-    dispensa- 
ing  pardon  in  God's  name  for  breaches  of    ^^o"- 
the  law  which  had  already  been  committed.    The  Pope, 
however,  claimed  not   only   this   power  concurrently 
with  all  other  bishops,  but  he  even  developed  a  right 
of  granting  dispensations  beforehand,  so  that  the  ten- 
dency was  to  ignore  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  and  to 
apply  directly  to  the  Pope  or  his  representatives,  who 
thus  were  willing  to   permit   infractions  of  the  law. 
Thomas  Aquinas  declares  that  any  bishop  can  grant 
dispensation   in   the   case   of  a   promise  about   which 


172         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

there  is  any  doubt ;  but  that  to  the  Tupe  alone,  as 
having  the  care  of  the  Church  Universal,  belongs  the 
liiglier  power  of  giving  unconditional  relaxation  from 
an  oath  of  perfectly  clear  meaning  in  the  interests  of 
the  general  good. 

But  even  papal  writers  sometimes  complain  of  the 
irresponsibility  of  the  papal  acts,  and  Popes  themselves 
had  to  allow  that  there  were  spheres  outside  their 
legislative  interference.  Tlius  Urban  II  acknowledges 
tliat  in  matters  on  which  our  Lord,  His  Apostles,  and 
the  Fathers  have  given  definite  decisions,  the  duty  of 
the  Pope  is  to  confirm  the  law.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
while  holding  that  the  Pope  can  alter  the  decisions  of 
the  Fathers  and  even  of  the  Apostles  in  so  far  as  they 
come  under  the  head  of  positive  law,  yet  excepts  from 
the  possibility  of  papal  interference  all  that  concerns 
the  law  of  nature,  the  Articles  of  Faith  (which,  he  says 
elsewhere,  have  been  determined  by  Councils),  or  the 
sacraments  of  the  new  law. 

The  third  wide  sphere  of  action  within  the  Church 
in  wliich  tlie  Pope  establislied  his  supremacy  was  that 
The  Pooe  ^^  justice.  The  Victatus  Faioac  asserts  not 
as  supreme  only  that  the  Pope  should  be  judged  by  no 
judge.  one,  but  that  tlie  "  greater  causes  "  of  every 

Churcli  should  be  referred  to  liim,  that  none  should 
dare  to  condemn  any  one  who  appealed  to  Kome,  and 
that  no  one  except  the  Pope  liimself  can  interfere  with 
a  pai»al  sentence.  Litigants  of  all  kinds  were  only  too 
ready  U)  a]i]»eal  against  the  local  tiibunal,  and  the 
i'ope  gave  them  every  encouragement.     St. 

ppca  s         Hernard  indignantly  pointed  out  to  Inno- 
to  Rome.  xr     i  -i    i  t  i 

cent  il  that  every  evil-doer  and  cantanker- 
ous  person,  whether  lay  or  cleric  or  even   from   the 


THE   PAPAL   POWER   IN   THE  CHURCH     173 

monasteries,  when  he  is  worsted  runs  to  Kome  and 
boasts  on  his  return  of  the  protection  which  he  has 
obtained.  It  is  true,  Gregory  VIII  (1187)  tried  to 
check  the  practice  of  appeals ;  but  his  sliort  reign  gave 
no  time  for  any  real  result.  Bishops  and  archdeacons 
tried  sometimes  to  stop  appeals  by  excommunication, 
which  prevented  the  victim  from  appearing  in  an 
ecclesiastical  court;  but  the  third  Lateran  Council 
(1179)  forbade  this  method  of  defence.  Alexander  III 
definitely  laid  it  down  that  appeals  could  be  made  to 
the  Pope  in  the  smallest  no  less  than  in  the  greatest 
matters,  and  at  every  possible  stage,  before  and  after 
trial,  at  the  pronouncement  of  the  sentence  and  after 
it  has  been  awarded ;  and  this,  he  points  out,  is  not  the 
case  in  civil  law,  where  an  appeal  is  only  admitted 
after  judgment.  Indeed,  the  most  serious  matter  with 
regard  to  papal  appeals  was  the  reservation  by  the 
Pope  to  his  own  decision  of  cases  which  were  regarded 
as  too  serious  for  the  local  courts.  The  bishops  had 
themselves  largely  to  thank  for  the  development  of 
this  direct  papal  jurisdiction ;  for  they  began  the 
custom  of  referring  to  Eome  the  cases  of  great 
criminals  and  of  serious  crimes.  But  these  "greater 
causes,"  claimed  for  the  Pope  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Gregory  VII,  included  not  only  grave  moral  crimes 
such  as  murder,  sacrilege,  and  gross  immorality,  but 
also  cases  of  dispensation  beforehand,  of  absolution 
after  excommunication  for  certain  offences.  Under  the 
same  head  would  come  the  right  of  canonisation  exer- 
cised by  archbishops  until  Alexander  III  claimed  it 
exclusively  for  the  Pope,  and  the  right  of  translating  a 
bishop  from  one  see  to  another,  which  involved  a  dis- 
solution of   the  metaphorical    marria^^e  between  the 


174         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 


bisliup  and  his  see  and  tlierefore  needed  a  special 
dispensation. 

These  extensive  powers  could  only  be  put  in  practice 
by  an  elaborate  niacliinery  for  their  enforcement.  In 
^.  tlie  first  })lace  the  Pope  was  surrounded  by  a 

papal  numerous  body  of  ollicials  to  whom  is  applied 

Curia.  from  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  the 

title  Curia.  Gerhoh  of  Eeichersberg,  an  ardent  papal 
supporter  writing  about  a  century  later,  objects  to  the 
substitution  for  the  word  "  Ecclesia "  of  tliis  term 
"Curia,"  whicli  would  not  be  found  in  any  old  letters  of 
the  Eoman  pontifls.  The  rapacity  of  the  officials  became 
a  byword  throughout  Christendom.  John  of  Salisbury 
told  Hadrian  IV,  witli  whom  lie  was  on  terms  of 
intimacy,  that  many  people  said  that  the  lioman 
Church,  which  is  the  mother  of  all  tlie  churches, 
shows  herself  to  tlie  others  not  so  much  a  mother  as  a 
stepmother.  "The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  it,  lay- 
ing intolerable  burdens  on  the  shoulders  of  men,  which 
they  do  not  touch  with  a  finger.  .  .  .  They  render 
justice  not  so  much  for  truth's  sake  as  for  a  price.  .  .  . 
The  Ptoman  pontiff  himself  becomes  burdensome  to 
all,  and  almost  intolerable."  Honorius  III  in  122G 
acknowledged  to  the  English  bishops  that  this  greed 
was  a  long-standing  scandal  and  disgrace,  but  he 
ascril^ed  it  to  the  poverty  of  Pome,  and  proposed  that 
in  order  to  remove  the  difficulty  two  stalls  should  be 
given  to  him  for  nomination  in  every  cathedral  and 
collegiate  chapter.  The  magnates  considered  the 
remedy,  if  possible,  worse  than  the  disease.  The 
popular  songs  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
contain  many  references  to  the  fact  that  notliing 
was  to  Ije  had  at  Pome  except  for  money,  and  that 


THE   PAPAL   POWER  IN   THE  CHURCH     175 

success  in  a  cause  went  to  the  richest  suitor.  And 
yet  Rome  had  many  sources  of  wealth.  She  drew 
resjular  revenues  from  estates  which  had  been  Q;iven  to 
the  papal  see ;  from  monasteries  which  were  subject 
to  visitation  of  papal  officers  alone ;  from  kingdoms, 
such  as  England,  whose  kings  had  made  themselves 
feudal  vassals  of  the  Pope.  Several  nations,  moreover, 
paid  special  taxes,  such  as  Peter's  Pence,  a  kind  of 
hearth  tax,  which  went  from  England.  The  Papacy 
also  exacted  a  number  of  dues  on  various  pretexts 
which  increased  with  the  growth  of  papal  power. 
Such  were  the  Annates  or  Firstfruits  and  analogous 
payments,  which  amounted  to  the  value  of  the  first 
year's  income,  and  w^ere  claimed  from  newly  appointed 
bishops  and  abbots  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
papal  right  of  confirmation.  Nor  did  Metropolitans 
get  their  pall,  which  was  necessary  for  the  exercise  of 
their  special  authority,  without  the  payment  of  con- 
siderable sums.  Over  and  above  these  regular  and 
occasional  sources,  the  Popes  exacted  on  especial  occa- 
sions, such  as  the  Crusades,  a  tax  amounting  to  a  tenth 
on  all  ecclesiastical  property,  and  even  allowed  kings 
to  take  it  with  their  leave.  But  these  formed  a  small 
portion  of  the  money  which  found  its  way  to  Rome. 
When  the  papal  legate  found  fault  with  Ivo  of  Chartres 
because  simony  was  still  prevalent  in  his  diocese,  tlie 
bishop  retorted  that  those  who  practised  it  excused 
their  action  from  the  example  of  Rome,  where  not  even 
a  pen  and  paper  were  to  be  had  free.  Dante  addresses 
the  shade  of  Pope  Nicholas  III  in  the  Inferno  (xix.)  : — 

"  Your  gods  ye  make  of  silver  and  of  gold  ; 
And  wherein  differ  from  idolaters, 
Save  that  their  God  is  one — yours  manifold  ? " 


176         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 

And  he  ascribes  tlie  evil  whicli  he  is  condemning  to  the 
so-called  Donation  of  Constantine. 

The    most   manifest   agents    and    organs   of    papal 
authority  throughout  Christendom  were   tlie  legates. 
The  Pope  had  appointed  permanent  repre- 
Papal  sentatives  called  Apocrisiaries  at  Constan- 

tinople, and  had  sent  emissaries  to  General 
Councils  and  for  other  special  matters.  But  from  the 
time  of  Leo  IX  legates  began  to  be  appointed  witli  a 
general  commission  to  visit  the  churches ;  and 
Gregory  YII  developed  this  method  of  interference 
with  the  local  authorities  into  a  regular  system.  In 
some  cases  local  hostility  was  disarmed  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Metropolitan  as  ordinary  legate,  and  the 
position  was  accepted  with  the  object  of  retaining  the 
chief  authority  upon  the  spot.  Such  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  became  after  1135.  But  the  existence 
of  this  official  did  not  prevent  the  despatch  from  time 
to  time  of  legates  a  latere,  as  they  w^ere  called.  The 
ordinary  legate  exercised  the  concurrent  jurisdiction 
claimed  by  the  Pope,  that  is,  tlie  right  of  interference 
in  every  diocese ;  these  legates  coming  from  the  side 
of  the  I*ope  were  armed  w^ith  the  power  of  exercising 
most  of  the  rights  specially  reserved  for  the  personal 
authority  of  the  Pope.  The  Dictatus  Papae  asserts 
that  the  Pope's  legates  take  precedence  of  all  bishops  \ 
in  a  council  even  thougli  they  may  be  of  inferior  rank,  / 
and  Gregory  VII  applies  to  their  authority  the  text 
"He  that  heareth  you  hearetli  me."  In  1125  Jolin  of 
Crema,  a  legate  sent  to  England,  presided  at  a  Council 
at  Westminster,  where  were  present  ecclesiastics  from 
the  archbishops  downwards  and  a  number  of  nol)ility ; 
and  *'  on  Easterday  lie  celebrated  the  ollice  of  the  day 


THE   PAPAL  POWER   IN  THE  CHURCH     177 

in  the  mother  church  in  place  of  the  supreme  pontiff, 
and  althougli  he  was  not  a  bishop,  but  merely  a 
Cardinal  Priest,  he  used  pontifical  insignia."  A  Metro- 
politan in  his  oatli  of  loyalty  to  the  Pope  was  made  to 
swear  that  he  would  treat  witli  all  honour  the  Eoman 
legates  in  their  coming  and  going,  and  would  help 
them  in  their  needs ;  and  the  procuration  or  main- 
tenance from  all  countries  which  they  not  only  visited, 
but  merely  passed  through,  was  arbitrarily  assessed. 
Innocent  III  enforces  it  by  directing  against  ecclesi- 
astics who  were  contumacious  a  sentence  of  distraint 
of  goods  without  any  right  of  appeal.  The  burden  was 
no  light  one.  Wichmann,  Archbishop  of  Magdeburg, 
writing  on  behalf  of  Frederick  I,  tells  the  Pope  that 
the  whole  Church  of  the  Empire  is  subject  to  such 
heavy  exactions  at  the  hands  of  the  papal  officials, 
that  both  churches  and  monasteries,  which  have  not 
enough  to  supply  their  own  daily  wants,  are  yet  com- 
pelled "beyond  their  utmost  possibility"  to  find  money 
for  the  use  of  these  legates,  sustenance  for  their  train 
of  attendants,  and  accommodation  for  their  horses.  In 
more  picturesque  language  John  of  Salisbury  describes 
the  legates  of  the  Apostolic  See  as  "sometimes  raging 
in  the  provinces  as  if  Satan  had  gone  forth  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord  in  order  to  scourge  the 
Church."  It  is  true  that  Alexander  IV  commanded 
an  enquiry  into  the  amount  which  his  legates 
had  demanded  under  pretext  of  procuration,  and 
which  he  heard  they  had  enforced  by  the  sacri- 
legious use  of  the  powers  of  excommunication,  suspen- 
sion, and  interdict.  But  the  parallel  which  Clement 
IV  drew  between  the  ordinary  legates  and  the  pro- 
consuls and  provincial  presidents  of  the  early  Empire 

N 


178         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

.showed  how  little  likelihood  there  was  of  redress  being 
got  from  the  Papacy  itself. 

The  effect  of  this  absorption  of  power  by  the  Papacy 
is  to  be  traced  in  many  directions.  Here  we  may 
Increase  of  ^^^^®  notice  of  two  of  the  most  remarkable, 
papal  In    the    first    place,    he    who    had    grown 

ceremony,  f^^om  the  Vicar  of  St.  Peter  to  be  directly 
the  Yicar  of  God  naturally  surrounded  himself  with 
an  increasing  amount  of  ceremony.  The  Dictatus 
Papac  claims  that  the  Pope  alone  can  use  imperial 
insignia,  and  that  it  is  his  feet  alone  that  all  princes 
should  kiss.  We  have  noticed  the  disputes  which 
arose  when  the  Pope  demanded  from  Lothair  and  from 
Frederick  I  that  the  Emperor  should  perform  the 
office  of  groom  to  the  Pope — hold  his  stirrup  as  he 
mounted  and  walk  by  the  side  of  the  mule.  St. 
Bernard  rightly  points  out  that  in  thus  appearing  in 
public  adorned  in  jewels  and  silks,  covered  with  gold, 
riding  a  white  horse,  and  surrounded  with  guards,  the 
Pope  was  the  successor  not  of  Peter,  but  of  Constantine. 
And  if  he  required  so  much  state  outside  the  Church, 
much  more  did  he  insist  upon  a  special  ceremony  in 
the  services.  Thus  at  the  Mass  the  Pope  received  the 
elements  not  kneeling  at  the  altar,  but  seated  and  on 
his  throne;  while  the  Host  was  carried  before  him  in 
procession  whenever  the  Pope  went  outside  his 
palace. 

A  far  more  important  result  of  the  supreme  position 

accorded  to  the  Papacy  was  tlie  gradual  emergence  of 

the  doctrine  of   papal^mTaTI il > i  1  i t }' .     "The 

•  r^.f-u-,-.  Cimrcli  oT  liome,"  says  Gre^^orv  VII, 
infallibility.  ,      r        i  •  i 

"  through   St.   Peter,  as    it    were    by   some 

privilege,  is  from  the  very  beginnings    of   the  faith 


THE   PAPAL   POWER    IN  THE  CHURCH     179 

reckoned  by  the  Holy  Fathers  the  Motlier  of  all  tlie 
Churches  and  will  so  be  considered  to  the  very  end ; 
for  in  her  no  heretic  is  discerned  to  have  had  tlie  rule, 
and  we  believe  that  none  such  will  ever  be  set  over 
her  according  to  the  Lord's  special  promise.  For  the 
Lord  Jesus  says,  '  I  have  prayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith 
fail  not.'"  And  in  accordance  witli  tliis  principle  the 
Dlctatiis  Papac  lays  it  down  that  "  the  Eoman  Church 
has  never  erred,  nor,  as  Scripture  testifies,  will  it  ever 
err."  Lmocent  III  pertinently  asks  how  he  could 
confirm  others  in  the  faith,  which  is  recognised  as  a 
special  duty  of  his  office,  unless  he  himself  w^ere  firm 
in  the  faith.  But  many  writers,  including  Innocent 
himself,  believed  that  it  was  possible  for  a  Pope  to  err 
in  some  individual  point,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  Church  to  convert  him.  Thomas  Aquinas,  while 
holding  it  certain  that  the  judgment  of  the  Church 
Universal  cannot  err  in  these  matters  which  belong  to 
the  faith,  gives  to  the  Pope  alone,  as  the  authority  by 
whom  synods  are  summoned,  the  final  determination 
of  those  things  which  are  of  faith.  Yet  even  he  allows 
that  in  matters  of  fact,  such  as  questions  of  ow^nership 
and  criminal  charges,  false  witnesses  may  lead  the 
judgment  of  the  Church  astray. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Papacy  did  not  attain  its 
supremacy  without  encountering  much  opposition. 
But  the  protests  on  the  part  of  bishops  King-s  and 
were  unavailing,  and  they  w^ere  themselves  papal 
largely  to  blame  for  the  height  to  which  the  claims, 
papal  power  had  grown.  Such  effective  remonstrance 
as  there  was  came  from  the  Kings,  though  even  they 
were  often  ready  to  invoke  the  papal  aid  to  obtain  an 
advantage  against  their  own  ecclesiastics  or  even  their 


i8o         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 

own  subjects.     Tlius  in   England  William   II   agreed 

will)  Url)an  II  lliat  no  legate  sliould  be  sent  to  the 

country  unless  tlie  King  was  willing  to  re- 
England.  .         ,   .  ,  .,      ,,  "    ri     •        1       ^ 

ceive  Jiini ;  while  iienry  11,  m  the  Constitu- 
tions of  Clarendon, lays  it  down  that  no  one  shouldappeal 
to  Eome  without  permission  of  the  King.  I>ut  Henry's 
submission  after  Becket's  murder  nullified  tlie  Consti- 
tutions, and  John's  humiliating  surrender  made  it 
difficult  to  object  to  the  exercise  of  any  papal  power 
in  England.  During  the  minority  of  Henry  III  the 
papal  legate  was  the  most  important  member  of  the 
Council  of  liegency ;  and  at  a  later  stage,  when  Henry 
had  quarrelled  with  his  barons,  he  was  glad  to  obtain  the 
papal  support  against  them.  In  Germany 
Hadrian  IV  complained  that  Frederick  I 
used  force  in  order  to  prevent  any  of  his  subjects  from 
carrying  their  causes  to  Eome ;  and  Otto  IV  was  obliged 
to  swear  in  1209  that  no  hindrance  should  be  placed  to 
ecclesiastical  appeals  to  Eome,  a  promise  subsequently 
exacted  also  from  Frederick  II  and  from  Eudolf. 

Not  dissimilar  was  the  submission  of  Alfonso  X  of 

Castile,  who  set  his  seal  to  the  papal  encroachments ; 

but  his  object  was  to  obtain  the  support  of 

Eome  in   his  campaign  against   the   local 

liberties  in  his  kingdom.    In  his  code  of  law  known  as 

"  Siete  Partidas  "  power  was  given  to  the  Pope  to  deal  as 

he  liked  with  bishops  and  with  benefices  and  to  receive 

all  appeals.  On  the  other  hand,  St.  Louis  was 

not  above  a  bargain  with  Eume.    He  refused 

to  the  Pope  tlie  tithes  of  the  French  Churcli  for  three 

years  for  the  oljject  of  carrying  on   the  war  against 

Frederick  II;  but  in  12G7  he  himself  obtained  the  papal 

consent  to  take  these  tithes  for  the  purpose  of  crusade. 


CHAPTER    XI 

DOCTRINE   AND    DISCIPLINE 
OF   THE   CHURCH 

IT  was  during  the  period  covered  l)y  this  vohime 
that  some  of  the  most  characteristic  doctrines  of  the 
Roman  Church  were  developed.  In  this  development 
the  whole  sacramental  system  of  the  Churcli  jsfumber  of 
comes  under  consideration.  The  word  the  sacra- 
"sacramentum"  in  the  sense  of  a  holy  mark  ments. 
or  sign  (sacrum  sigmtm)  w^as  used  with  a  very  wide 
meaning  as  denoting  anything  "  by  which  under  the 
cover  of  corporeal  things  the  divine  wisdom  secretly 
works  salvation."  Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  writing  in  the 
first  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  distinguishes  three 
kinds  of  sacraments— those  necessary  for  salvation, 
namely,  baptism  and  the  reception  of  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ ;  those  for  sanctification,  such  as  holy 
water,  ashes,  and  such -like  ;  and  those  instituted  for 
the  purpose  of  preparing  the  means  of  the  necessary 
sacraments,  that  is,  holy  orders  and  the  dedication  of 
churches.  Elsewhere  he  chooses  out  rather  more 
definitely  seven  remedies  against  original  or  actual 
sin,  namely,  baptism,  confirmation,  eucharist,  penance, 
extreme  unction,  marriage,  and  holy  orders;  and 
after  the  twelfth  century  the  Churcli  gradually  re- 
stricted the  use  of  the  word  Sacrament  to  these 
seven.  There  was  much  disputing  among  the  school- 
men  on   the  need  of   institution  by  Christ  Himself. 

i8i 


i82         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE    EMPIRE 

Peter  Lombard,  and  after  him  Bonaventura,  denied 
tliis  necessity ;  Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas 
A(|uinas  asserted  it.  But  how  account  for  extreme 
unction  and  confirmation  ?  Tliis  is  St.  Thomas'  ex- 
planation. *'  Some  sacraments  whicli  are  of  greater 
dilliculty  for  belief  Christ  himself  made  known ;  but 
others  He  reserved  to  be  made  known  by  the  Apostles. 
For  sacraments  belong  to  the  fundamentals  of  the 
law  and  so  their  institution  belongs  to  the  law-giver. 
Christ  made  known  only  such  sacraments  as  He  Him- 
self could  partake.  But  He  could  not  receive  either 
penance  or  extreme  unction  because  he  was  sinless. 
The  institution  of  a  nevv  sacrament  belongs  to  the 
power  of  excellence  whicli  is  competent  for  Christ 
alone :  so  that  it  must  be  said  that  Christ  instituted 
such  a  sacrament  as  conlirmation  not  by  making  it 
known,  but  by  promising  it." 

Of  these  seven  sacraments  the  one  round  which  the 
whole  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  increas- 
ingly  centred  was,  of   course,  the   Sacrament  of  the 

Lord's  Supper  or  the  Eucharist.  The  view 
T    ,     .  ,      generally  held  in  the  Church   was  that  of 

St.  Augustine,  which  finds  a  place  in  the 
homilies  of  Aelfric  and  in  the  controversial  work  of 
Ratramnus  of  Corbie  (died  868).  According  to  this 
view,  Christ  is  present  in  the  consecrated  elements  of 
the  sacrament  really  but  spiritually.  "  The  body  of 
Christ,"  says  Batramnus,  "  which  died  and  rose  again 
and  has  become  immortal,  does  not  now  die  :  it  is 
eternal  and  cannot  suffer."  But  the  tendency  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  to  materialise  all  conceptions  how- 
ever spiritual;  and  Hatramnus  had  written  to  con- 
trovert Paschasius  lladbertus,  Abbot  of  New  Corbie, 


DOCTRINE  AND   DISCIPLINE  183 

who    had   applied   these    materialistic   views   to   the 

Eucharist.    "Although,"  he  asserts,  "  the  form  of  bread 

and  wine  may  remain,  yet  after  consecration  it  is  nothing 

else  but  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  none  other  than 

the  flesh  which  was  born  of  Mary  and  suffered  on  the 

cross  and  rose  from  the  sepulchre."     During  the  two 

succeeding    centuries    this    theory    of    the    corporeal 

presence  gained  so  much  vogue  in  the  Church  that 

when   Bereng-ar   of    Tours   tauf^ht    in    the   cathedral 

school  of  his  native  city  the  doctrine  of  Eatramnus, 

he  was  condemned  unheard  at  a  Synod  at    „ 

Eome  in  1050.     But  he  gained  the  favour 

of  Hildebrand,  who  was  then  at  Tours  in  1054  as  papal 

legate,  and  was  content  with  the  admission  "panem 

atque  vinum  altaris  post  consecrationem  esse  corpus 

et   sanguis  Christi";    and  relying  on  his  protection 

Berengar  went  to  Eome  (1059).     Here,  however,  his 

opponents  forced  him  to  sign  a  confession  in  conformity 

with  the  materialistic  view.    His  repudiation  of  this  as 

soon  as  he  got  away  from  Eome  began  a  long  controversy, 

the  champion  on  the  materialistic  side  being  Lanfranc, 

then  a  monk  of  Bee  in  Normandy,  to  whom  Berengar 

had  originally  addressed  himself.     Lanfranc  held  the 

position  that  the  consecrated  elements  are  "  ineffably, 

incomprehensibly,  wonderfully   by   the    operation   of 

power  from  on  high,  turned  into  the  essence  of  the 

Lord's  Body."     In  1075  the  matter  was  discussed  at 

the  Synod  of  Poictiers,  and  Berengar  was  in  danger  of  his 

life.     Again  Pope  Gregory,  as  he  had  now   become, 

tried  to  stand  his  friend,  and  at  a  Synod  at  Eome  in 

1078  to  get  from  Berengar  a  confession  of  faith  in 

general  terms.    But  the  violence  of  Berengar's  enemies 

made   compromise   or   ambiguity    impossible.     Again 


184         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMIMHE 

Berengar  repudiated  the  forced  confession;  and  Gregory 
only  obtained  peace  for  him  until  his  death  in  1088, 
by  threatening  with  anathema  any  who  molested  him. 
Berengar's  objections  to  the  doctrine  of  Paschasius 
were  shared  by  all  tlie  mystics,  who  held  a  more 
spiritual  belief.  Thus,  St.  Bernard  distinguishes 
between  the  visible  sign  and  the  invisible  grace  which 
God  attaches  to  the  sign;  and  lUipert  of  Deutz  declares 
that  for  him  wlio  has  no  faith  there  is  nothing  of  tlie 
sacrifice,  nothing  except  the  visible  form  of  the  bread 
and  wine. 

But  apart  from  these  writers  the  trend  of  opinion 
and  inclination  told  entirely  in  favour  of  the  material- 
istic   school   of    thought.     To    the    ordinary  folk  tlie 

miraculous   aspect  of    the   doctrine  was   a 

Transub-  ...  i    i.-  i.  i. 

,     ,.  ,•        ]>ositive     recommendation     to     acceptance. 

And  the  word  Transubstantiation,  even 
though  it  did  not  necessarily  imply  a  materialistic 
change,  undoubtedly  became  associated  in  men's  minds 
with  that  idea.  As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  nintli 
century  Haimo  of  Halberstadt  had  said  that  tlie 
substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  (that  is,  the  nature 
of  bread  and  wine)  is  changed  substantially  into  another 
substance  (that  is,  into  tlesh  and  blood).  But  the  word 
"  transubstantiate  "  is  used  first  by  Stephen,  Bishop  of 
Autun  (1113-29),  who  explains  "This  is  My  r)ody  " 
as  "  The  bread  which  I  liave  received  I  have  transub- 
stantiated into  My  Body."  Sanction  was  first  given 
for  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  Lateran  Council  of 
1215.  In  the  confession  of  faith  drawn  \\\)  by  that 
Council  it  is  asserted  tliat  "  there  is  one  Universal 
Church  of  the  Faithful,  outside  of  which  no  one  at  all 
has  salvation  :  in  wliich  Jesus  Himself  is  at  once  priest 


DOCTRINE   AND   DISCIPLINE  185 

and  yacrifice,  whose  Body  and  Blood  are  truly  received 
in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  under  the  form  of  bread 
and  wine,  the  bread  being  transubstantiated  by  the 
divine  power  into  the  Body  and  the  wine  into  the 
Blood,  in  order  that  for  the  accomplishment  of  tlie 
mystery  of  the  unity  we  may  receive  of  His  what  He 
has  received  of  ours.  And  this  as  being  a  sacrament 
no  one  can  perform  except  a  priest  wdio  shall  have 
been  duly  ordained  according  to  the  Keys  of  the 
Church,  whicli  Jesus  Christ  Himself  granted  to  the 
Apostles  and  their  successors." 

This  "  mystery  of  the  unity "  became,  on  the  one 
side,  the  subject  of  a  long  and  intricate  controversy  on 
the  method  Ijy   which   the   change   in   the 

elements  was  effected,  while  on  the  other      ^su  ting 

cn3.n2rcs. 
side  it  lent  itself  to  much  mystical  medita- 
tion. Of  neither  of  these  is  there  space  to  give  illus- 
tration ;  but  the  hymn  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  which  is 
familiar  to  English  readers  under  the  form  of  "Now,  my 
tongue,  the  mystery  telling,"  blends  the  two  sides  with 
astonishing  success.  It  is  a  mistake  to  describe  the  view 
of  the  sacrament  thus  sanctioned  by  the  Church  as  either 
more  "  advanced  "  or  "  higher  "  than  the  older  view.  It 
was  merely  more  elaborate,  and  as  being  such  it  led  on 
to  certain  definite  results  or  changes  in  custom. 

Thus,  in  the  first  place,  hitherto  children  had  par- 
taken of  the  sacrament.  This  had  come  partly  from  the 
teaching  of  the  need  of  the  sacrament  for  salvation, 
partly  from  the  early  custom  of  administering  com- 
munion directly  after  baptism.  The  fear  of  profanation 
now  caused  the  gradual  discontinuance  of  children's 
communions,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury they  were  definitely  forbidden. 


i86         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

A  far  more  important  change,  and  for  a  similar 
reason,  was  the  refusal  of  the  enp  to  the  laity.  St. 
R  f  sal  of  ^iisclm  is  responsible  for  the  dictum  (after- 
cup  to  wards  accepted  by  the  whole  Church)  that 
laity.  *'  Christ  is  consumed  entire  in  either  ele- 
ment " ;  from  this  came  the  inference  that  there 
was  no  need  for  the  administration  of  botli.  The 
heaviness  of  a  single  chalice  made  the  danger  of 
spilling  its  contents  so  great  that  several  chalices 
were  used.  This,  however,  only  increased  the  chances, 
and  various  methods  were  adopted  with  a  view  to  mini- 
mising the  difficulty.  Sometimes  a  reed  was  used ;  later 
on,  bread  dipped  in  wine  was  administered,  as  was 
already  usual  in  the  case  of  sick  persons  or  children  ;  or 
even  unconsecrated  wine  was  given.  Some  of  these 
methods  came  under  papal  condemnation ;  and  the 
withdrawal  of  the  cup  found  powerful  apologists  in 
Alexander  of  Hales  and  Th(jmas  Aquinas.  But  the 
administration  of  both  elements  continued  to  be  fairly 
common  until  far  on  into  the  thirteenth  century. 

A  third  result  of  the  new  views  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
extension  of  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  adoration  of 
Adoration  the  sacrament.  The  rite  of  elevation  existed 
of  the  in  the  Greek  Church  at  least  as  early  as 

Sacrament,  ^^j^g  seventh  century,  but  was  not  adopted  by 
the  Latins  until  four  centuries  later.  In  either  case, 
however,  it  was  only  regarded  as  an  act  symbolical  of 
the  exaltation  of  Christ.  But  following  on  the  sanction 
of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  by  the  Lateran 
Council,  Honorius  III  in  12 17 decreed  that ''  every  priest 
should  frequently  instruct  his  people  that  when  in  the 
celebration  of  the  Mass  the  saving  Host  is  elevated  every 
one  should  bend  reverently,  doing  the  same  thing  when 


DOCTRINE  AND   DISCIPLINE  187 

the  priest  carries  it  to  the  sick."  A  logical  outcome  of 
this  was  the  foundation  of  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi 
for  the  special  celebration  of  the  sacramental  mystery. 
This  was  first  introduced  in  the  bishopric  of  Liege  in  re- 
sponse to  the  vision  of  a  certain  nun.  Urban  IV,  who 
had  been  a  canon  of  Liege,  adopted  it  for  the  wliole 
Church  in  1264,  but  it  only  became  general  after 
Clement  V  had  incorporated  Urban's  ordinance  as  i)art 
of  the  Canon  Law  in  the  Clementines  (1311). 

While  there  was  a  growing  elaboration  of  the  sacra- 
mental rite,  the  laity  in  many  parts  of  Europe  came 
from  slackness  less  frequently  to  receive  communion. 
As  early  as  Bede,  in  England,  though  not  in  Eome, 
communions  were  very  infrequent.  English  and 
French  Synods  tried  to  insist  on  communion  three 
times  a  year,  but  could  not  enforce  the  rule. 
Innocent  III,  in  the  fourth  Lateran  Council,  with 
a  view  to  compel  confession,  prescribes  once  a 
year.  "  Every  one  of  the  faithful,"  runs  the  canon  of 
the  Council,  "  of  either  sex,  after  he  has  come  to  years 
of  discretion,  is  to  confess  faithfully  by  himself  all  his 
sins  at  least  once  a  year  to  his  own  priest,  and  is  to  be 
careful  to  fulfil  according  to  his  power  the  penance 
enjoined  on  him,  receiving  with  reverence  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist  at  least  at  Easter." 

Finally,  the  discussion  of  this  theory  of  transub- 
stantiation  led  to  the  development  of  a  special  view 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice.  Peter 
Lombard  and  Thomas  Aquinas  call  the  sacrament  a 
representation  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  upon  the 
cross.  But  to  Albertus  Magnus  it  is  not  merely  a 
Eepresentation,  but  a  True  Sacrifice,  that  is,  "  an  Ob- 
lation of  the  thing  offered  by  the  hands  of  the  priests," 


i88         THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

and  St.  Tliomas  elsewliere  declares  that  tlie  perfection 
of  the  sacrament  consists  not  in  its  use  by  the  faithful, 
but  in  the  consecration  of  the  element,  that  is  to 
say,  that  the  main  point  was  the  act  of  the  priest. 
The  prevalence  of  this  view  appears  to  have  en- 
couraged the  idea  in  the  laity  that  a  mere  atten- 
dance at  the  service  was  in  itself  so  meritorious 
as  almost  to  dispense  with  the  need  of  communion, 
except  once  a  year  and  on  the  death-bed.  Similarly, 
private  Masses  for  the  dead  were  instituted,  chantry 
chapels  were  founded  for  the  celebration  of  them, 
and  priests  were  appointed  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
serving  the  altar  of  the  chapel. 

Nor  was  the  development  of  this  sacramental  system 
the  only  method  by  which  the  importance  of  the 
P  .       priesthood  became  enhanced.      The  whole 

penitential  system  of  tlie  Church  was 
gradually  perverted.  Originally  those  convicted  of  open 
sin  who  submitted  to  penance  were  publicly  readmitted 
to  the  Church  after  confessiucj;  their  sin  and  makincj 
some  form  of  atonement.  People  were  encouraged  to 
confess  their  sins  to  their  bislio])  or  priest  even  when 
their  sins  were  not  open  and  notorious.  This  was 
especially  enjoined  in  the  case  of  mortal  sin.  But  it 
was  for  a  long  time  a  matter  of  discussion  whether 
this  confession  to  a  priest  was  an  indispensable  pre- 
liminary to  forgiveness.  ]^eter  Lombard  marks  another 
view.  God  alone  remits  or  retains  sins,  but  to  the 
priests  he  assigns  the  power,  not  of  forgiveness,  but  of 
declaring  men  to  Ije  bound  or  loosed  from  their  sins.  He 
adds  that  even  though  sinners  have  been  forgiven  by 
God,  yet  they  must  be  loosed  l)y  the  priest's  judgment 
in  the  face  of  the  Churcli.     In  this  ambiguous  position 


DOCTRINE   AND   DISCIPLINE  189 


of  the  priest  laymen  were  even  entrusted  with  the  power 
of  hearing  a  confession  if  no  priest  was  availaljle. 
But  in  tlie  twelfth  century,  as  we  have  seen,  confession 
was  often  reckoned  among  the  sacraments ;  and  at  the 
Lateran  Council  Innocent  III  enjoined  an  annual  con- 
fession to  the  parish  priest.  Before  long  the  precatory 
form  of  absolution  is  replaced  by  the  indicative  form  by 
which  the  priest  declared  the  sinner  absolved.  Thomas 
Aquinas  lays  it  down  that  ''  the  grace  which  is  given 
in  the  sacraments  descends  from  the  head  to  the  mem- 
bers :  and  so  he  alone  is  minister  of  the  sacraments  in 
which  grace  is  given  who  has  a  true  ministry  over 
Christ's  body ;  and  this  belongs  to  the  priest  alone  who 
can  consecrate  the  Eucharist.  And  so  when  grace  is 
conferred  in  the  sacrament  of  penance,  the  priest  alone 
is  the  minister  of  this  sacrament ;  and  so  to  him  alone 
is  to  be  made  the  sacramental  confession  which  ought 
to  be  made  to  a  minister  of  the  Church."  There  was 
no  room  here  for  confession  to  laymen,  although 
Thomas  himself  allows  that  in  cases  of  necessity  such 
confession  has  a  kind  of  sacramental  character  which 
would  be  supplemented  by  Christ  Himself  as  the  high 
priest. 

The  increasing  stress  laid  upon  private  confession 
not  only  led  to  the  decay  of  the  public  procedure,  but 
also  brought  about  some  dangerous  develop- 
ments  in    the   penitential   system   of    the    gnces. 
Church.     This    had    already   become    very 
largely  a  matter  of  fixed  pecuniary  compensations  for 
moral  offences ;  so  that  the  new  system  of  compulsory 
confession  was  able  to  recommend  itself  to  the  people 
through  the  adaptation  of  the  old  mechanical  standards 
by  the  confessors  to  each  individual  case.     Far  more 


I90         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

importanl  was  tlie  extension  given  to  the  system  of 
indulu'ences.  These  liad  tlieir  ori^i'in  in  tlie  remission 
of  part  of  an  imposed  penance  on  condition  of  attend- 
ance at  particular  churches  on  certain  anniversaries, 
it  being  understood  that  the  penitent  would  present 
oll'erings  to  the  Church.  Abailard  complains  that  on 
ceremonial  occasions  when  large  oflerings  are  expected, 
bishops  issue  such  indulgences  for  a  tliird  or  fourth 
part  of  the  penance  as  if  they  had  done  it  out  of  love 
instead  of  from  the  utmost  greed.  And  they  boast  of 
it,  claiming  tliat  it  is  done  by  the  power  of  St.  Peter 
and  the  Apostles,  when  it  is  God  who  said  to  them 
"  AVhosesoever  sins  ye  remit,"  etc.  Thus  all  bishops 
took  it  upon  themselves  to  issue  indulgences  for  the 
furtherance  of  particular  objects.  But  in  its  claim  to 
subordinate  the  episcopal  power  to  its  own,  the  Papacy 
began  to  grant  indulgences  which  were  not  limited  to 
time  or  circumstance.  Gregory  YI  in  1044  made  pro- 
mises to  all  wlio  helped  in  the  restoration  of  Poman 
churches:  but  Gregory  VII  promised  absolution  to  all 
who  fought  for  Pudolf  of  Suabia  against  Henry  IV ; 
wliile  Urban  II  in  the  widest  manner  ollered  plenary 
indulgence,  that  is,  remission  of  all  penances  imposed, 
in  the  case  of  any  who  would  take  part  in  the  Crusade. 
This  ofi'er  in  whole  or  in  part  was  constantly  renewed 
in  order  to  raise  an  army  for  the  East. 

It  was  of  course  presupposed  by  those  in  authority 

in  tlie  cases  of  these  induh^ences  that,  confession  liavim^ 

been  made,  the    temporal  i)enalties  to  be 

^^,  °"      under!^(jne    either    here    or    in    i:)urifatory 
populace.  ^  ,  ,  . 

were    tlius    remitted.     Put     preacliers    m 

their  eagerness    to    raise    troops  asserted    that    those 

guilty  of  the  foulest  crimes  obtained  pardon  from  the 


DOCTRINE   AND  DISCIPLINE  191 


moment  when  they  assumed  the  cross,  and  were 
assured  of  salvation  in  the  event  of  death.  Conse- 
quently the  people  in  their  ignorance  overlooked  the 
conditions  attached  and  regarded  these  indulgences  as 
promises  of  eternal  pardon.  It  is  not  wonderful  tliat 
men  released  from  social  restraints  of  a  more  or  less 
stable  society  should  have  developed  in  their  new 
abode  the  licence  which  made  crusaders  a  byword  in 
the  West. 

So  far  the  Popes  had  endeavoured  to  supersede  the 
bishops  in  the  issue  of  indulgences  by  entering  into 
rivalry  with  tliem.  But  the  power  was  p^p^i 
used  by  the  bishops  in  such  detailed  ways  indulg- 
as  perhaps  seriously  to  interfere  with  the  ences. 
offerings  which  should  reach  the  Papacy  or  be  applied 
to  important  projects.  Innocent  III,  therefore,  at  the 
great  Lateran  Council  limited  the  episcopal  power  to 
the  grant  of  an  indulgence  for  one  year  at  the  conse- 
cration of  a  church  and  for  forty  days  at  the  anniver- 
sary. Unfortunately  this  did  not  mean  the  suppression 
of  trilling  reasons  for  the  multiplication  of  indulgence. 
The  whole  system  was  a  convenient  method  of  adding 
to  the  revenues  of  Kome,  and  no  occasion  seemed  too 
small  for  the  exercise  of  the  papal  power  of  dispensa- 
tion. Urban  IV  granted  an  indulgence  to  all  who 
should  listen  to  the  same  sermon  as  the  King  of 
France.  The  Crusades  were  the  great  occasion  and 
excuse  for  the  development  of  this  system,  and  it 
certainly  reached  its  nadir  when  Gregory  IX  showed 
himself  ready  in  return  for  a  pecuniary  penance  to 
absolve  men  from  the  vows  which  they  had  perhaps 
been  unwillingly  forced  to  take  by  his  own  agents  for 
going  on  crusade.     Equally  disgraceful  was  the  estab- 


192      .  THE  CHURCH    AND  THE  EMPIRE 

lishnient  of  the  year  of  Jubilee  in  1300  by  Boniface 
VllI,  wlien  plenary  indulgence  of  the  most  coniprelien- 
sive  kind  was  offered  to  all  wliu  within  the  year 
should  in  tlie  proper  spirit  visit  the  tombs  of  St.  Peter 
and  >St.  Paul  at  Pome. 

]>ut  how  came  the  Pope  to  be  in  possession  of  this 
power  of  remitting  the  penalties  for  sin  ?  The  school- 
men of  the  thirteenth  century  supply  the 
Treasury  answer.  Alexander  of  Hales  and  Albert 
the  Great  invented  the  theory  and  Thomas 
Aquinas  completed  it.  According  to  their  teaching, 
the  saints,  by  their  works  of  penance  and  by  their 
unmerited  sufferings  patiently  borne,  have  done  in  this 
world  more  than  was  necessary  for  their  own  salvation. 
These  superabundant  merits,  together  with  those  of 
Clnist,  which  are  infinite,  are  far  more  than  enough  to 
fulfil  all  the  penalties  due  for  their  evil  deeds  from  the 
living.  The  idea  of  unity  in  the  mystical  body  enables 
the  shortcomings  of  one  man  to  be  atoned  for  by  the 
merits  of  another.  The  superabundant  merits  of  the 
saints  are  a  treasury  for  use  by  the  whole  Churcli,  and 
are  distributed  by  the  head  of  the  Church,  that  is,  the 
Pope.  Furthermore,  to  St.  Thomas  is  due  the  idea 
that  the  contents  of  this  treasury  were  equally  avail- 
able for  the  benefit  of  souls  in  purgatory,  for  whom  the 
Church  was  already  accustomed  to  make  intercession. 

It  was  to  our  Lord  Himself  that  the  tlieologians 
attributed  all  merit ;  but  in  the  popular  mind  the 
Canonisa-  i^'^erits  of  the  saints  took  an  ever  more 
tion  of  important  place,  since  tlie  Church  seemed 

saints.  (^q  make  tlie  priesthood  a  barrier  against, 

ratlier  than  a  channel  for,  the  How  of  God's 
mercy   to   man ;    but   popular   feeling  sought   to    find 


DOCTRINE   AND   DISCIPLINE  193 

intercessors  before  the  throne  of  grace  in  the  holy  men 
and  women  of  the  faith.  For  a  long  time  it  was  the 
bishops  who  decided  the  title  to  saintship.  But  in 
993  Pope  John  XV,  in  a  Council  at  Eome  and  in 
response  to  a  request  of  the  Bishop  of  Augsburg, 
ordered  that  a  former  bishop  of  that  see  should  be 
venerated  as  a  saint.  This  was  the  process  afterwards 
called  Canonisation,  which  involved  the  insertion  of  a 
name  in  the  Canon  or  list,  and  gave  it  currency  not 
merely  in  a  single  diocese,  but  throughout  western 
Christendom.  In  1170  Alexander  III  claimed  such 
recognition  as  the  exclusive  right  of  Eome.  But 
despite  this  assumption  of  authority,  popular  feeling 
very  often  dictated  to  the  l*ope  whom  he  should 
admit  into  the  list.  Death  followed  by  miracles  at  the 
tomb,  and  sometimes  the  building  of  an  elaborate 
shrine  with  an  altar,  forced  the  Pope  to  grant  the 
claims  of  a  popular  favourite. 

A  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  applications  for 
such  official  recognition  would  be  the  result  of  any 
widely  popular  movement.  Such  was  the  jyj.j.^^jgg 
effect  of  the  Crusades  in  the  twelfth  century,  ^^^  ^^^^^^^ 
and  of  the  foundation  of  the  Mendicant 
Orders  in  the  thirteenth.  And  the  multiplication  of 
saints  meant  an  increase  in  the  number  of  relics  and 
an  ever-growing  belief  in  the  miraculous.  Miracles 
frequently  took  place  in  connection  with  living  persons 
of  saintly  life.  Abailard  scornfully  pointed  out  that 
some  of  the  attempts  made  by  Norbert  or  Bernard  to 
work  miraculous  cures  were  quite  unsuccessful,  while  in 
successful  cases  medicine  as  well  as  prayers  had  been 
employed.  But  such  rationalism  was  beyond  the 
grasp  of  an  ignorant  age,  and  collections  of  stories  of 
o 


194  Tin:  CHURCH   AND  THE   RMPH^E 

miracles,  such  as  remain  to  us  in  the  "  Golden 
Legends "  of  Jacob  de  Yoragine,  a  Dominican  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  fed  the  popular  belief.  Miracles 
so  commemorated  often  occurred  in  connection  with 

• 

relics ;  and  the  traffic  in  relics  and  so  styled  "  pious  " 
frauds,  not  to  say  the  forcible  means  used  to  procure 
reputed  relics  of  authentic  or  supposititious  saints, 
forms  a  curious  if  a  discreditable  feature  in  mediaeval 
history.  An  occasional  protest  was  uttered  against 
the  manner  in  which  credit  was  often  obtained  for 
relics  of  more  than  doubtful  authenticity  ;  but  the 
manufacture  of  them  was  easy  and  profitable,  and 
pilgrims  returning  from  Palestine  could  palm  off  any- 
thing upon  the  credulity  of  a  willing  and  ignorant 
populace.  The  growth  of  a  legend  in  connection  with 
relics  is  fitly  illustrated  by  the  liistory  of  the  eleven 
thousand  Virgins  of  Koln.  Martyrologies  of  the 
ninth  century  celebrate  tlie  martyrdom  of  eleven 
virgins  in  the  city  of  Kciln.  Perhaps  these  were 
described  as  XL  ]\L  Virgines,  and  the  letter  wliich 
denoted  martyrs  was  mistaken  for  the  Eoman  numeral 
for  one  thousand,  and  so  the  number  of  virgins  was 
ultimately  swollen  to  eleven  thousand.  A  legend, 
possibly  working  on  an  old  one,  was  invented  by  a 
writer  of  the  twelfth  century  that  these  virgins  were 
martyred  by  the  Huns  in  the  fifth  century.  In  the 
middle  of  that  century,  when  heresy  was  rife  at  Kiiln, 
a  number  of  bones  of  persons  of  both  sexes  were  found 
near  Koln,  and  the  autlienticity  of  the  relics  was  put 
beyond  dispute  by  the  revelations  vouchsafed  to 
Saint  Elizabeth,  Abbess  of  Schonau,  to  wliom  the 
matter  was  referred.  Even  though  she  did  give  a  date 
for  the  event  which  was  historically  impossible,  the 


DOCiRIXE   AND   DISCIPLINE  195 

confirmatory  evidence  of  the  Premonstratensian  Abbot 
Iticliard  nearly  thirty  years  later  put  the  matter 
beyond  the  doubt  of  any  pious  Christian.  But  tlie 
interest  of  these  unsavoury  remains  of  anonymous 
men  and  women,  however  saintly,  pales  before  certain 
relics  of  our  Lord's  life  on  earth  which  gained  currency. 
Of  these  the  most  famous  were  the  Veronica,  a  cloth 
on  which  Christ,  on  His  way  to  Calvary,  was  supposed 
to  have  left  the  impress  of  His  face,  and  a  vessel  of  a 
green  colour  which  was  identified  with  the  holy  grail, 
the  cup  which  our  Lord  used  at  the  Last  Supper.  Of 
garments  purporting  to  be  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ 
there  were  a  considerable  number  shown  in  different 
places ;  but  the  most  famous  to  this  day  remains  the 
Holy  Coat  of  Treves,  whicli,  in  Dr.  Eobertson's  caustic 
words, "  the  Empress  Helena  (the  mother  of  Constan- 
tine)  was  said  to  have  presented  to  an  imaginary  arch- 
bishop of  her  pretended  birthplace,  Treves."  During 
the  First  Crusade  the  army  before  Antioch  was  only 
spurred  on  to  the  efforts  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  the  city,  by  the  opportune  discovery  of  tlie  Holy 
Lance  with  which  the  Eoman  soldier  had  pierced 
Christ's  side  wliile  He  hung  upon  the  cross. 

The    great    increase    in    the    whole    intercessory 
machinery  of  the  Church  culminated  in  the  adoration 
of  the  Virgin  Mary.     The  extravagant  expression  of 
this   devotion   was   widespread.      For    the 
many  it   found   vent    in   the    language   of    ^^  ^^^ 
popular  hymns.     Among    the    monks    the    virgin. 
Cistercians  were  under  her  special  protec- 
tion, and  all  their  churches   were  dedicated  to  her. 
Of  the  learned  men  Peter  Damiani  in  the  eleventh 
century,  St.  Bernard  and  St.  Bonaventura  in  the  two 


196         THE  CHURCH   AXl)  THE   EMPIRE 


succeeding  centuries  respectively,  especially  helped  in 
various  ways  to  crystallise  her  position  in  the  Church. 
As  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  her  devotees  Saturdays 
and  the  vigils  of  all  feast  days  came  to  be  kept  in  her 
honour;  tlie  salutation  "Ave  Maria  gratia  plena" 
with  certain  additions  was  prescribed  to  be  taught  to 
tlie  people,  together  with  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  tlie 
Creed.  In  the  thirteenth  century  its  frequent  repeti- 
tion resulted  in  the  invention  of  the  Eosary,  a  string 
of  beads  by  which  tlie  number  of  repetitions  could  be 
counted.  The  religion  of  Mary  soon  showed  signs  of 
development  as  a  parallel  religion  to  that  of  Christ. 
She  is  styled  the  Queen  of  Heaven ;  her  office,  com- 
posed by  Peter  Damiani,  was  ordered  by  Urban  II  to 
be  recited  on  Saturday ;  and  a  Marian  Psalter  and 
a  Marian  ]^)ible  were  actually  composed ;  wliile  in 
place  of  the  dvJia  or  reverence  offered  to  the  saints, 
there  was  claimed  for  the  Virgin  a  liigher  step,  a 
hyperdulia,  which  St.  Thomas  places  between  clulia  and 
the  latria  or  adoration  paid  to  Christ. 

A  final  stage  in  possible  developments  was  reached 
in  tlie  twelfth  century  in  the  institution  of  a  feast  in 
honour  of  the  conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
Hitherto  it  had  been  supposed  by  Christian  writers, 

notal)ly  by  St.  Anselm,  that  the  Mother 
The  imma-  ^^  ^\^q  Lord  had  been  conceived  as  others, 
ception  Towards  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century 

some  Canons  of  Lyons  evolved  the  theory 
that  she  was  conceived  already  sinless  in  her  mother's 
womb.  St.  Bernard  strenuously  opposed  this  notion 
of  her  immaculate  conception,  pointing  out  that  the 
supposition  involved  in  the  theory  could  not  logically 
stop  with  the  Virgin  herself,  but  must  be  applied  to 


DOCTRINE  AND   DISCIPLINE  197 


her  parents  and  so  to  each  of  their  ancestors  in  turn 
in  an  endless  series.  Nor  was  St.  Bernard  alone  in 
his  objection  :  indeed,  nearly  all  the  chief  theologians 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  including  Thomas  Aquinas, 
declared  that  there  was  no  warrant  of  Scripture  for 
the  theory.  But  notwithstanding  this  criticism,  the 
festival  won  its  way  to  recognition.  Those  who  kept 
it,  however,  declared  that  it  was  merely  the  conception 
which  they  celebrated;  and  St.  Thomas  interpreting 
this  to  denote  the  sanctification,  was  of  opinion  that 
such  a  celebration  was  not  to  be  entirely  reprobated. 
It  was  Duns  Scotus  who  first  among  the  schoolmen 
defended  the  theory  of  the  immaculate  conception,  but 
in  moderate  language;  and  his  Franciscan  followers, 
who  at  a  General  Council  of  the  Order  in  1263  had 
admitted  the  festival  among  some  other  new  occasions 
to  be  observed,  in  the  course  of  the  fourteenth  century 
adopted  it  as  a  distinctive  doctrine. 


CHAPTER    XII 
HERESIES 

IT  was  not  until  the  thirteentli  century   tliat  tlie 
Church  had  to  face   that   spirit  of   scepticism  or 
anti-relicrious  feelinf?  which  is  the  chief  bu^- 

ause  o        ^^^^,  q£  modern  Christianity.    Her  elaborate 
heresy.  .       .  '' 

organisation  and  the  gradual  development 

of  her  own  dogmatic  position  enabled  her  to  deal  with 
individual  writers  of  a  speculative  turn  like  Berengar 
or  Abailard.  Nor  were  these  in  any  sense  anti- 
Christian.  But  they  were  the  inciters  to  heresy  ;  and 
a  real  danger  to  the  Church  lay  in  the  filtering  down 
of  intellectual  speculations  to  ignorant  classes,  l)y 
whom  they  would  be  transformed  into  weapons  against 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Indeed,  from  the  eleventh  century  onward  the  Church 
was  constantly  threatened  by  heresy  of  a  popular  kind, 
wliich  tended  to  develop  into  schism.  And  for  tliis 
slie  liad  to  thank  not  only  the  growing  materialisation 
of  her  doctrine,  but  even  more  the  worldly  life  of  her 
ministers.  Unpalatable  doctrines  may  commend  them- 
selves ])y  the  pure  lives  wliicli  profess  to  be  founded 
on  them ;  but  evil  doing  carries  no  persuasion  to 
others. 

It  is  a  real  difliculty  that  our  sources  of  information 
of  all  the  heretics  of  these  centuries  are  cliiefly  the 
writings  of  their  successful  op[»onents — tlie  defenders 

198 


HERESIES  199 


of  the  orthodox  faith.     But  much  information  remains 
to    us    from    the    admissions    of    her    supporters    as 
to  the  depraved  condition  of  the   Church 
at  this  period ;  so  that  we  need  not  believe   Qf^gj-gJ^^-g^ 
the  allegations  of  tlieir  opponents  that  a  chief 
inducement  to  join  heretical  sects  lay  in  the  greater 
scope  for  the  indulgence  of  sin.    Charges  of  immorality 
against    opponents    were    the    stock-in-trade   of    the 
controversialist,  while  the  greatest  authorities  in  the 
Church  allow  that  heresy  lived  upon  the  scandals  and 
negligences  of  the  Church.     Moreover,  based  as  they 
were  upon  opposition  to  the  existing  organisation,  the 
doctrines  of  the  various  sects  had  much  in  common. 
The  Church    did   not  distinguish  between  them,  but 
excommunicated    them    all    alike.     If,   however,    we 
would  understand  the  developments  of  opinion  in  the 
succeeding  centuries,  it  is  important  to  discriminate ; 
and  a  clear  distinction   can   be    made  between  those  y 
opponents  of   the   Church   whose   views  were   aimed/ 
against  the  development  of  an  extreme  sacerdotalism 
within  the  Church,  and  those  who,  going  beyond  this 
negative  position,  reproduced  the  Manichrean  theories  1 
of  an  early  age  and  threatened  to  raise  a  rival  organ-  / 
isation  to  that  of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  object  which  those  who  belonged  to  the  first  of 
these  divisions  set  before  themselves,  was  to  get  beliind 
the  elaborate  organisation  which  the  Church 
had  built  up  and  which,  instead  of  being  a  ^j^^^jf^^^g^^" 
help  to  lead  man  to  God,  had  now  become  a 
hindrance  by  which  the  knowledge  of  G-od  was  actually 
obscured.  They  would  therefore  sweep  away  all  this 
machinery  and  return  to  the  Christianity  of  apostolic 
times.     Their   objection  was  primarily  moral,  but   it 


200         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

soon  became  doctrinal ;  and  among  tlie  heretics  of  this 
class  there  was  revived  the  Donatist  theory  that  the 
sacraments  depend  for  tlieir  efhcacy  on  the  moral  con- 
dition of  those  who  administer  them.  The  campaign  of 
the  Church  reformers  against  clerical  marriage  seemed 
directly  to  support  this  view ;  but  the  canons  which 
forbade  any  one  to  be  present  at  a  Mass  performed  by 
a  married  priest  liad  to  be  explained  away  as  a  mere 
enforcement  of  discipline;  and  in  1230  Gregory  IX 
definitely  laid  it  down  that  the  suspension  of  a  priest 
living  in  mortal  sin  merely  aflects  him  as  an  individual 
and  does  not  invalidate  his  office  as  regards  others. 
But  such  declarations  did  nothing  to  meet  the  common 
feeling  of  the  great  incompatibility  between  the  awful 
powers  with  which  the  Church  clothed  her  ministers 
and  the  sinful  lives  led  by  a  large  proportion  of  the 
existing  clerical  body. 

From  an  early  period  in  the  twelfth  century  sectaries 

of  this  class  are  found  in  several  quarters.  Two  extreme 

instances  are  Tanchelm,  who  preached  in  the 

Extreme  Netherlands  between  1115  and  1124,  and 
examples. 

Eon  de  I'Etoile,  who  gathered  round  him  a 

band  of  desperate  characters  in  Brittany  about  11-48. 
They  have  been  described  as  "  two  frantic  enthusiasts," 
and  Eon  was  almost  certainly  insane.  Eon  was  im- 
prisoned and  his  band  dispersed.  But  Tanchelm  found 
a  large  following  when  lie  taught  that  the  hierarcliy 
was  null  and  that  titlies  should  not  be  paid.  He  came 
to  an  untimely  end;  but  the  influence  of  his  doctrines 
continued  so  strong  in  Antwerp  that  St.  Norbert  came 
to  the  help  of  the  local  clergy  and  succeeded  in  obliter- 
ating all  traces  of  the  heresy. 

It  was   in  tlie   south   of   France   that    this  and   all 


HERESIES  20I 


heresy  assumed  a  more  formidable  shape.  The  popu- 
lation   was    very    mixed ;    the   feudal   tie,    _ 

Petro- 
whether  to  France,  England,  or  the   Em-    ^rusians. 

peror,  was  sliglit ;  there  was  more  culture 
and  luxury,  the  clergy  were  more  careless  of  their- 
duties,  while  Jews  had  greater  privileges,  than  any- 
where else  in  Europe.  Moreover,  the  early  teachers 
were  men  of  education.  Two  such  were  Peter  de  Bruis 
(1106-26),  a  priest,  and  Henry  of  Lausanne  (1116- 
48),  an  ex-monk  of  Cluny.  Peter  was  burnt  and 
Henry  probably  died  in  prison.  Peter  preached  in  the 
land  known  later  as  Dauphine ;  and  the  views  of  the 
Petrol )rusians,  as  his  followers  were  called,  so  con- 
tinued to  spread  after  his  death  that  Peter  the  Vener- 
able, the  Abbot  of  Cluny,  thought  it  worth  while  to 
write  a  tract  in  refutation  of  them.     Henry  was  more 

formidable.    He  preached  over  all  the  south  .  . 

1  T  1         .•        .    Henricians. 

of  1  ranee,  was  condemned  as  a  heretic  at 

the  Council  of  Pisa  (1134),  but  was  released  and 
resumed  his  preaching.  As  the  bishops  could  not  and 
the  lay  nobles  w^ould  not  do  anything  against  him, 
the  papal  legate  obtained  the  help  of  St.  Bernard, 
who,  although  ill,  preached  at  Albi  and  elsewhere  with 
an  effect  which  was  much  enhanced  by  the  miracles 
which  in  popular  belief  accompanied  his  efforts.  Henry 
declined  a  debate  to  wliich  Bernard  challenged  him, 
and  so  became  discredited,  and  shortly  after  he  fell 
into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

The  tract  of  Peter  the  Venerable  is  practically  the  sole 
authority  for  the  tenets  of  the  Petrobrusians.  Accord- 
ing to  this  they  w^ere  frankly  anti-sacerdotal.  Infant 
baptism  was  held  to  be  useless,  since  it  was  performed 
with  vicarious  promises.     Churches  were  useless,  for 


202         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

the  Church  of  God  consists  of  the  coiif're^ation  of  the 
faithful;  the  Cross,  as  being  the  instrument  of  Christ's 
torture,  was  a  symbol  to  be  destroyed  rather  than 
invoked ;  there  was  no  real  presence  and  no  sacrifice 
in  the  Mass,  for  Christ's  body  was  made  and  given 
once  for  all  at  the  Last  Supper ;  all  offerings  and 
prayers  for  the  dead  were  useless,  since  each  man 
would  be  judged  on  his  own  merits.  Henry  witli  his 
followers  practically  adopted  these  views  and  added 
attempts  at  social  reform  on  Christian  lines,  especially 
in  the  matter  of  marriage,  persuading  courtesans  to 
abandon  their  vicious  life  and  promoting  their  union 
to  some  of  his  adherents. 

By  far   the   most   important    body   of   these   anti- 
sacerdotal     heretics     were     the     AYaldenses.      Their 
founder  was  Peter  Waldo,  whose  name  takes 

,  ^ "  many  forms — Waldez,  AYaldus,  Waldensis. 

denses.  -^ 

He  was  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Lyons  who, 
moved  with  relis^ious  feelim^s  and  himself  i2;norant, 
caused  two  priests  to  translate  into  the  vernacular 
Ptomance  the  New  Testament  and  a  collection  of 
extracts  from  the  chief  writers  of  the  early  Church 
known  as  Sentences.  From  a  perusal  of  these  he 
became  convinced  that  the  way  to  spiritual  perfection 
lay  througli  poverty.  He  divested  himself  of  his 
wealtli  and,  as  a  way  of  carrying  out  the  gospel 
furtlier,  lie  began  to  preach  (1170-80).  He  attracted 
men  and  women  of  the  poorer  classes,  wliom  lie  used 
as  missionaries;  and  the  neglect  of  the  pulpit  l)y  the 
clergy  caused  tliese  lay  preachers  t(j  find  ready  listeners 
in  tlie  streets  and  even  in  the  chu relies  of  Lyons. 
According  to  the  custom  of  the  day  they  adopted  a 
special  dress ;  and  the  sandals  (sabot)  wliicli  they  wore 


HERESIES  203 


in  imitation  of  the  Apostles  gave  them  the  name  of 
Insabbatati.  They  called  themselves  the  Poor  Men  of 
Lyons — Pauperes  de  Lngduno ;  Li  Ponre  de  Lyod. 
The  Archbishop  of  Lyons  excommunicated  them  ;  but 
Alexander  III,  at  the  recjuest  of  Peter,  allowed  them 
to  preach  with  permission  of  the  priests.  Their  dis- 
regard of  this  proviso  caused  their  excommunication 
by  the  Pope  in  1184  and  again  in  1190;  and  from 
this  time  they  began  to  repudiate  the  Church  which 
limited  their  freedom,  and  to  set  up  conventicles  and 
an  oro-anisation  of  their  own.  The  date  of  Peter's 
death  is  not  known. 

The  strong  missionary  spirit  of  these  sectaries  spread 
their  doctrines  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  They 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  poor  folk  scat-  . 

tered  over  an  area  extending  from  Aragon    ^i^^^ 
to  Bohemia ;  and  from  place  to  place  differ- 
ences of  organisation  and  doctrine  are  to  be  observed. 
But  they  were  not  Protestants  in  the  modern  sense, 
and,  despite  persecution,  many  continued  to  consider 
themselves  members  of   the   Church.     Thus  on  such 
doctrinal  points  as  the  Keal  Presence,  purgatory,  the 
invocation  of  saints,  in  many  places  they   long  con- 
tinued to  believe  in  them  with  their  own  explanations, 
and  their  repudiation  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church 
was  a  matter  of  gradual  accomplishment.     It  is  true 
that  in  places  they  strove  to  set  up  their  own  organ- 
isation.     But  the  tendency    of    the    Waldenses   was 
much  rather  towards  a  simplification  of  the  existing 
organisation.    The  power  of  binding  and  loosing  was 
entirely  rejected :    an  apostolic  life  and  not  ordination 
was  the  entrance  to  the  priesthood.     In  fact,  a  layman 
was  qualified  to    perform  all  the    priestly  functions, 


204         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


not  merely  to  baptise  and  to  preach,  but  even  to  hear 
confession  and  to  consecrate  the  Eucharist.  Thus  the 
whole  penitential  machinery  of  the  Church  was  set 
aside.  Tlieir  specially  religious  teaching  was  largely 
ethical,  and  by  the  testimony  of  their  enemies  their 
life  and  conduct  were  singularly  pure  and  simple.  The 
stories  of  abominable  practices  among  them  perhaps 
arose  from  the  extreme  asceticism  of  a  sect  wliich 
professed  voluntary  poverty ;  but  they  were  no  more 
true  than  the  similar  tales  told  of  the  early  Christians. 
Xor  shall  we  regard  from  the  same  point  of  view  as 
the  Churchmen  of  the  day  the  charge  brought  against 
them  on  the  ground  of  their  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures.  Of  these  they  had  their  own  ver- 
nacular translations,  and  large  portions  of  them  were 
committed  to  memory.  But  such  translations  spread 
broad-cast  views  unfettered  bv  the  traditional  inter- 
pretation  of  the  Clnirch,  and  the  missionary  zeal  of 
the  AValdenses  was  proof  against  the  horrors  of  the 
Inquisition  with  its  prison,  torture-chamber,  and 
stake. 

The  most  formidable  development  of  hostility  to 
the  Church  came  from  the  Manichieism  of  those  who 
bore  at  various  times  and  in  different 
places  the  names  of  Cathari,  Patarins,  or 
Albigenses.  The  attraction  of  the  ]\Ianich<^an  theory 
lay  in  its  apparent  explanation  of  the  problem  of  evil./ 
There  exist  side  l)y  side  in  the  world  a  good  prineii)le' 
and  an  evil  principle.  Tlio  latter  is  identifiable  with 
matter  and  is  the  work  of  Satan.  Hence  sin  consists 
in  care  for  the  material  creation.  It  follows  that  all 
action  tending  to  the  reproduction  of  animal  life  is  to 
be  avoided,  so  that  marriage  was  strongly  discouraged. 


HERESIES 


205 


To  the  earlier  views  was  added  the  doctrine  of  metem- 
psychosis, or  the  transmigration  of  souls,  which,  acting 
as  a  means  of  reward  and  retribution,  seemed 
fully  to  account  for  man's  sufferings.  These  views 
togetlier  explain  the  avoidance  as  food  by  the  Catliari  ] 
of  everything  which  was  the  result  of  animal  propa- 
gation,  and  also  the  severity  of  the  ascetic  practices 
which  were  char2;ed  a^^ainst  them. 

In  the  sphere  of  doctrine  the  division  between  the 
Cathari  and  the  Catholic  Church  was  absolute. 
According  to  these   sectaries  Satan  is  the  I 

Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament :   hence  all    T^?^ 
CM     .    ,  -,     r.  ^       ^i  1  •  -1      doctrines, 

bcriptures  berore  the  Gospels  are  rejected. 

They   accepted    the    New    Testament,    but   regarded 

Christ   as    a   phantasm   and    not   a   man.     Thus    the 

doctrine  of  tlie  Real  Presence  had  no  meaning  for  them,  . 

/    indeed,  they  rejected  the  sacraments  and  all  external/ 

^    and   material    manifestations    of    religion.     Here,   of 

course,  they  had  much  in  common  with  the  Waldenses, 

whom  the  Church  confounded  with  them ;   and  there 

seems  little  doubt  that  the  way  for  the  preaching  of 

Catharism  in  the  south  of  France  was  paved  by  the 

previous  work  of  Peter  de  Bruis  and,  even  more,  of 

Henry  of  Lausanne.     But  the  reasons  for  opposition 

to    the    Church    were    not    the    same     among    the 

Waldenses   and    the    Cathari ;    and   the    latter   soon 

parted    company   with   the    seekers   after    primitive 

Christianity   by    developing   an  organisation  of   their 

own.     Thus   as   the    Catliari    grew   in   numbers   and 

carried  on  a  vigorous  missionary  work,  their  devotees 

tended  to  form  themselves  into  a  Church.     At  least 

two  distinct  Orders  were  recognised.     The  Perfected 

were  a  kind  of  spiritual  aristocracy  who  renounced  all 


-06  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


property  and  were  sworn  to  celibacy,  while  they  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  penances  of  such  rigour  that  their 
lives  were  often  endangered,  if  not  shortened.  ])elow 
them  were  the  mass  of  believers  who  were  allowed  to 
marry  and  to  live  in  the  world,  assimilating  themselves 
so  far  as  possible  to  the  ideal  set  before  them  by  the 
hio-her  caste.  From  the  l^erfected  were  chosen  officers 
with  the  names  of  bishop  and  deacon,  the  latter  acting 
as  assistants  to  the  chief  officers.  The  ritual  was 
simple  but  definite,  and  the  most  characteristic  cere- 
mony was  the  Consolamentum,  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  which  the  believers  were  placed  in 
communion  witli  the  I'erfected  and  so  became  absolved 
from  all  sin.  It  w^as  performed  by  the  imposition  of 
hands  together  with  the  blessing  and  kiss  of  peace 
given  by  any  two  of  the  Perfected.  This  was  the  pro- 
cess of  "  heretication,"  the  name  given  by  the 
Inquisitors  to  admission  into  the  Catharist  Church; 
and,  except  in  the  case  of  the  ministers,  it  w^as  post- 
poned until  the  believer  lay  upon  his  death-bed. 

The  charges  of  evil  practices  against  the  Cathari 

were  perhaps  no  truer  than  similar  accusations  against 

the  Waldenses,  and  their  missionary  zeal 

'^^^^^  was  proof  against  even  death  at  the  stake, 

effect. 

Nevertheless  there    is  no  doubt   that   the 

cause  of  progress  and  civilisation  lay  with  Catholicism 

rather   than  wdth  its  opponents.     The   asceticism  of 

the    Catliari    would    have    resulted,    if    not    in    tlie 

extinction  of  the  race,  at  least  in  the  destruction  of 

the   family :    their  identification  of    matter  witli   the 

work  of   Satan  would  have   been  a  bar  to  attempts 

at  material  improvement.     Moreover,  if  ever  theirs 

had  become  the  con(|uering  faith,  they  would  have 


HERESIES  207 


developed  a  sacerdotal  class  as  privileged  as  the 
Catholic  priesthood.  The  movement  has  heen  aptly 
described  as  "  not  a  revolt  against  the  Cluirch,  but  a 
renunciation  of  man's  dominion  over  nature." 

Whether  tlie  Catharist  movement  was  spread 
westwards  by  the  Paulicians  who  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury were  transplanted  from  Armenia  to  -^i  • 
Thrace,  or  sprang  spontaneously  from  origin  and 
teachers  who  saw  in  the  dualistic  philoso-  spread, 
phy  a  condemnation,  if  not  an  explanation,  of  the 
materialisation  of  Christianity  by  the  Church,  may 
not  be  very  certain ;  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  Cathari  of  Western  Europe  always  looked 
to  the  eastern  side  of  the  Adriatic  as  to  the  head- 
quarters of  their  faith.  In  the  eleventh  century 
w^e  hear  of  Cathari  in  certain  places  in  North  Italy, 
in  France,  and  even  in  Germany ;  but  although  in 
Italy  the  name  of  Patarins  came  to  be  applied  to  the 
sect,  we  need  trace  no  connection  in  the  popular  rising 
at  Milan,  which  was  stirred  up  by  the  Church  re- 
formers against  the  simony  and  clerical  marriage 
practised  by  the  Church  of  St.  Ambrose.  In  the 
twelfth  century  the  movement  is  heard  of  in  an  in- 
creasing number  of  places,  in  certain  parts  of  France 
including  Brittany,  in  Flanders  among  all  classes,  in 
the  Ehine  lands.  Milan  was  supposed  to  be  the  head- 
quarters in  Italy.  In  England  thirty  persons  of 
humble  birth,  probably  from  Flanders,  were  con- 
demned in  1166,  and  an  article  was  inserted  in  the 
Assize  of  Clarendon  agjainst    them. 

But  it  was  in  the  south  of  France  that  the  Cathari, 
no  less  than  the  Waldenses,  were  chiefly  to  be  found ; 
with  this  dif!erence,  however — that,  whereas  the  Wal- 


2o8         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

denses  confined  tliemselves  cliielly  to  l^rovence  and 
tlie  valley  of  the  Khone,  the  Cathari  were  scattered 
over  a  much  larger  area,  altliough  their 
eliief  strength  lay  in  the  valley  of  the 
Garonne.  The  town  of  Albi  gave  them  their  name 
of  Albigenses,  and  Toulouse  was  the  chief  centre  of 
their  influence.  In  1119  Calixtus  II  condemned  the 
heresy  at  its  centre  in  Toulouse.  In  1139,  at  the 
second  Lateran  Council,  Innocent  II  called  upon  the 
secular  power  for  the  first  time  to  assist  in  expelling 
from  the  Church  those  who  professed  heretical 
opinions.  In  1163  Alexander  III,  at  the  great 
Council  of  Tours,  demanded  that  secular  princes 
should  imprison  them.  But  the  futility  of  these 
measures  appeared  from  the  colloquy  held  in  1165  at 
Lombers,  near  Albi,  between  representatives  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Albigenses  before  mutually  chosen 
judges,  for  it  made  plain  the  boldness  of  the  heretics 
and  their  claim  of  equality  with  the  Church.  Indeed, 
in  1167  they  actually  held  a  council  of  their  own  at 
St.  Felix  de  Caraman,  near  Toulouse,  at  which  the 
chief  Bishop  of  the  Catharists  was  brought  from  Con- 
stantinople to  preside,  while  a  number  of  bishops  were 
appointed,  and  all  the  business  transacted  was  that 
of  an  equal  and  rival  organisation  to  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

During  the  next  ten  years  (1167-77),  while  the 
religious  allegiance  of  Europe  was  divided  by  the 
Attempts  schism  in  the  Papacy,  Catharism  gained  a 
at  suppres-  great  hold  over  all  classes  in  Languedoc 
^'°"'  and    Gascony.      Kaymond  V  of    Toulouse, 

the  sovereign  of    Languedoc,   finding   liimself    power- 
less  to  check  it,  appealed  for  help;   but  the  Kings 


HERESIES  209 


of  France  and  England  agreed  to  a  joint  •  expedi- 
tion only  to  abandon  it,  and  the  papal  mission 
sent  in  1178,  composed  of  the  papal  legate,  several 
bishops,  and  tlie  Abbot  of  Clairvaux,  only  made 
heroes  of  the  few  heretics  whom  they  ventured  to 
excommunicate.  In  1179,  at  the  third  Lateran 
Council,  Alexander  III  proclaimed  a  crusade  against 
all  enemies  of  the  Church,  among  whom  were  included, 
for  the  first  time,  professing  Christians.  The  Abbot  of 
Clairvaux,  as  papal  legate,  raised  a  force  and  reduced 
to  submission  Koger,  Viscount  of  Beziers,  who  openly 
protected  heretics ;  but  the  crusading  army  melted 
away  at  the  end  of  the  time  of  enlistment,  and  the 
only  result  of  the  expedition  was  the  exasperation 
produced  by  the  devastation  of  the  land.  After  this 
failure  no  real  attempt  was  made  to  stop  the  spread  of 
heresy  until  the  accession  of  Innocent  III,  while  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  in  1186  turned  all  crusading  ardour 
in  the  direction  of  Palestine. 

Meanwhile,   in    1194   Eaymond   V   had  been  suc- 
ceeded  by    his   son,  Eaymond   VI,    who,   if    he   was 
not    actually  a    heretic,   was    at   least  in- 
different   to   the   interests  of   the  Catholic    ^^^^^""^ 
faith.       Most  of  his  barons  favoured  Cath-    Xoulouse. 
arism.        He  himself    was    surrounded  by 
a    gay    and    cultured   court,   and    was    popular   with 
his  subjects.       At  the  same    time    the   local    clergy 
neglected  their  duties,  the  barons  plundered  the  Church, 
and  the  heretics,  without  persecuting  the  Catholics, 
were  gradually  extinguishing  them  in  the  dominions  of 
Toulouse.       Immediately   on    his    accession    in    1198 
Innocent    III   appointed  commissioners    to  visit    the 
heretical  district ;  but  the  local  bishop,  from  jealousy, 


2IO         THE  CflURCH  AND   THE  EMPIRE 

would  not  lielp.  Some  effect,  however,  was  produced 
when,  acting  on  the  suggestion  of  a  Spanisli  prelate, 
Diego  de  Azevedo,  Bishop  of  Osma,  they  dismissed 
their  retinues  and  started  on  a  preaching  tour  among 
the  people.  The  Bishop  was  accompanied  by  the  Canon 
Dominic,  and  this  mission  was  the  germ  out  of  wliicli 
shortly  grew  the  great  Dominican  Order.  But  the 
Bishop  went  back  to  Sjiain,  and  twice  the  i)apal 
legate  excommunicated  Eaymond  VI  because  he  would 
give  no  help.  Once  Ptaymond  made  his  peace  with 
the  Church,  but  the  second  pronouncement  against  him 
was  shortly  followed  by  the  murder  of  the  legate  Peter 
of  Castelnau,  who  had  made  himself  peculiarly  obnoxi- 
ous (1208).  Piaymond's  complicity  was  never  proved, 
but  Innocent  was  getting  impatient,  and  his  com- 
missioners had  made  up  their  minds  that  it  was  easier 
and  (juicker  to  exterminate  tlie  heretics  than  to  con- 
vert them.  Raymond  and  all  concerned  in  the  murder 
were  excommunicated,  and  a  crusade  was  proclaimed 
against  them.  Pliilip  Augustus  of  France  allowed  his 
barons  to  go,  but  excused  himself  on  the  ground  of 
his  relations  with  John  of  England.  Piaymond  hoped 
to  avoid  the  threatening  storm  by  another  abject  sub- 
mission ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  his  chief 
fortresses  and  to  join  in  person  tlie  army  which  now 
assembled  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  in  his  own 
lands. 

Although  Piaymond  was  thus  forced  to  ai)i)ear   in 

the  ranks  of  liis  enemies,  a  leader  in   resistance  was 

found    in    his    nepliew,    Paymond    Poger, 

V"^    ,  Viscount     of     Bcziers    (1209).       But    his 

Crusade.  •     i    t^  /    ■  i    i  i 

capital   Bcziers   was  stormed   by   the    cru- 
sading army  under  the  legate,  wlio,  wlien  asked  how 


HERESIES 


21  1 


the  soldiers  could  distingiiisli  Catholics  from  lieretics, 
is  said  to  liave  re]>lied,  "Slay  them  all:  God  will 
know  His  own."  Tlien  Carcassonne,  deemed  im])reg- 
nable,  was  besieged,  and  the  young  Viscount,  decoyed 
into  the  enemies'  camp  under  pretence  of  negotiation, 
was  kept  a  prisoner.  He  died,  and  the  city  was  sur- 
rendered. The  conquered  territory  was  practically 
forced  by  tlie  legate  on  Simon  de  Montfort,  younger 
son  of  the  Count  of  Evreux,.  who,  through  his  mother, 
was  also  Earl  of  Leicester. 

In  1211  the  crusaders  attacked   Count  Raymond's 
territories.    He  had  never  yet  been  tried  for  the  murder 
of  the  legate,  of  which  he  was  accused ;  and 
already  Pliilip  of  France  had  warned  the    Montfort 
Pope  that  in   any  question  of    Eaymond's 
forfeiture,  it  was  for  the  French  King  as  suzerain  and 
not  for  the  Pope  to  proclaim  it.     By  a  visit  to  Piome 
Paymond   hoped  that   he   had   gained    permission   to 
purge  himself  from  the  impending  charges ;  but  at  the 
last  moment  this  w^as  pronounced  impossible,  because 
in  having  failed  to  clear  his  lands  of  heresy,  as   he 
had  promised  to  do,   he  was  forsworn.     In  a  war  of 
sieges  De  Montfort's  skill  took  from  Paymond  every- 
thing except  Toulouse  and  Montauban.      Eaymond's 
brother-in-law,  Pedro  II  of  Aragon,  now  intervened; 
but  when  Innocent  III,  misled  by  his  legates,  refused 
a  further  offer  of  purgation  on  the  part  of  Paymond, 
Pedro  formally  declared  war  against  De  Montfort.    He 
invaded  and  laid  siege  to  Muret ;  but  his  forces  were 
defeated  and  he  was  killed  (1213).    So  far  Innocent  III 
had  avoided  the  recognition  of  De  Montfort's  conquests 
in  Toulouse.     Put  early  in  1215  he  ratified  the  act  of 
the  Council  of  Montpellier  which  had  elected  Simon 


212         THE  CHURCH    AND  THE   EMPIRE 

cle  Montfort  as  lord  of  the  whole  conquered  land, 
liayniond,  although  he  had  never  yet  been  tried,  was 
declared  deposed  for  heresy  ;  and  the  fourth  Lateran 
Council,  wliile  confirming  tliis  decision,  left  a  small 
portion  of  the  territory  still  unconquered,  for  his  son. 
It  seems  likely  that  Innocent  would  have  been  willing 
to  deal  fairly  witli  the  Count  of  Toulouse ;  but  by 
this  time  there  were  too  many  interested  in  tlie  ruin 
of  the  House  of  Toulouse,  and  the  Pope  was  deliber- 
ately misled  by  his  legates.  Hence  it  came  that 
a  judgment  which  might,  as  it  was  expected  that  it 
would,  have  righted  a  great  wrong,  proved  only 
a  signal  for  revolt.  Eaymond  and  his  son  were 
welcomed  back  by  an  united  people,  and  finally  in 
1218  Simon  de  Montfort  was  killed  while  besieging 
Toidouse. 

De  Mont  fort's  son  could  make  no  headway  against 
a  people  in  arms.  But  in  1222  Eaymond  VI 
A  war  of  ^^^^^  Philip  of  France  vainly  tried  to  pro- 
ag-gres-  mote  a  peaceful  settlement  between  Amaury 
sion.  (\q  Montfort  and  Eaymond  YII.     Amaury, 

despairing  of  success,  offered  his  claims  to  the  Frencli 
King,  and  in  1223  Philip's  successor,  Louis  YlII, 
overpersuaded  by  the  Pope,  accei)ted  them.  Tlie  young 
Count  Eaymond  vainly  endeavoured  to  ward  ofl"  the 
tlireatened  invasion  and  showed  every  desire  to  be 
reconciled  with  the  Churcli.  Tliere  was  scarcely  any 
longer  a  pretence  of  religious  war.  From  the  first  it 
had  been  largely  a  war  of  races,  promoted  by  northern 
jealousy  at  tlie  wealtli  and  civilisation  of  the  south 
and  by  a  desire  for  the  completion  of  tlie  Frank 
con([uest  of  Gaul.  Thus  from  the  beginning  of 
hostilities     the     whole     population     of     the     south, 


HKRRSIKS  213 


Catholic  as  well  as  heretic,  had  stood  together  in 
resistance  to  the  crusading  army,  and  despite  his  tergi- 
versations Eayniond  VI  had  never  lost  their  affection 
and  support.  The  war  lasted  for  three  years  (1226-9) ; 
Louis  VIII  led  an  expedition  southwards,  which  for 
some  inexplicable  reason  turned  back  before  it  had 
achieved  complete  success ;  and  after  his  death  the 
Queen-Eegent,  Blanche  of  Castile,  with  the  encourage- 
ment of  Pope  Gregory  IX,  came  to  terms  with  Eaymond 
VIL  By  the  Treaty  of  Meaux  (1229)  Count  Eayniond 
asireed  to  hunt  down  all  heretics,  to  assume  the  cross 
as  a  penance,  to  give  up  at  once  about  two-thirds  of 
his  lands,  while  the  remainder  was  to  go  to  his 
daughter,  who  was  to  be  married  to  a  French  prince, 
with  the  ultimate  reversion  to  the  French  Crown.  In 
1237  Jeanne  of  Toulouse  was  married  to  Alfonso, 
brother  of  Louis  IX ;  in  1249,  on  the  death  of  \ 
Eaymond  VII,  they  succeeded  to  his  dominions,  and 
on  their  death  in  1271  without  children  Philip  III 
annexed  all  their  possessions  to  the  dominions  of  the 
French  Crown. 

The  c[uestion    of   the   acquisition   of  territory  was 
thus  shown  to  be  far  more  important   than  the   sup- 
pression of  heresy.     But  a  university  was  established 
at  Toulouse  for  the  teaching  of  true  philo-    Punish- 
sophy,  and  the  Inquisition  was  set  up  under    ment  for 
the  Dominicans  for  the  suppression  of  false    "eresy. 
doctrine.      The    time   had   definitely  gone    by   when 
the  Church  would  rely  upon  methods  of  persuasion  in 
dealing  with  heretics.     And  yet  for  a  long  time  there 
was  much  hesitation  among  Churchmen.    Even  as  late 
as  1145  St.  Bernard  pleads  for  reasoning  rather  than 
coercion.     And  the  application  of  methods  of  coercion 


214         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

was  equally  tentative.  At  lirst  the  obstinate  heretic 
was  imprisoned  or  exiled  and  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated. l)Ut  the  practice  of  burning  a  heretic  alive 
was  long  the  custom  before  it  was  adopted  anywhere 
as  positive  law.  Pedro  II  of  Aragon,  the  champion  of 
Kaymond  VI,  first  definitely  legalised  it  (1197).  In 
1238  by  the  Edict  of  Cremona  this  became  the  recog-  | 
nised  law  of  the  Empire,  and  was  afterwards  embodied 
in  the  Sachsenspiegel  and  Schwabenspiegel,  the 
municipal  codes  of  Northern  and  Southern  Germany 
respectively.  The  Etablissements  of  Louis  IX  (1270) 
recognised  the  practice  for  France.  It  is  a  tribute  to 
English  orthodoxy  that  the  Act  "  de  haeretico  com- 
burendo"  was  not  passed  until  1401. 

Early  usage  forbade  the  clergy  to  be  concerned  in 
judgments  involving  death  or  mutilation.  This  finds 
The  expression  in  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon 

secular  (1164);  and  the  fourth  Lateran  Council 
arm.  (12 L5)  definitely  forbade  clerks  to  utter  a 

judgment  of  blood  or  to  be  present  at  an  execution. 
Thus  the  Church  merely  found  a  man  a  heretic  and 
called  upon  the  secular  authority  to  punish  him.  It 
was  impressed  upon  all  secular  potentates  from  highest 
to  lowest  that  it  was  their  business  to  obey  the  be- 
hests of  the  Church  in  the  extirpation  of  heresy. 
Indeed,  it  may  almost  be  said  that  the  validity  of  this 
command  of  the  Church  was  the  principal  point  at 
issue  in  the  Albigensian  crusade  ;  for  Kaymond's  lands 
were  declared  forfeit  merely  because  he  would  not 
take  an  active  part  in  the  punisliment  of  liis  heretical 
subjects.  Thus  by  the  thirteenth  century  all  hesitation 
as  to  the  attitude  of  the  Church  towards  heretics  had 
entirely  disappeared.     As  Innocent  III  lays  it  down, 


HERESIES  215 


"  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with  him  who  keeps  not  faith 
with  God,"  and  Councils  of  this  century  declared  that 
any  temporal  ruler  who  did  not  persecute  heresy  must 
be  regarded  as  an  accomplice  and  so  as  himself  a  heretic. 
We  cannot  apply  modern  standards  to  the  mediaeval 
feelings  about  heresy.  Tlie  noblest  and  most  saintly 
among  clergy  and  laity  alike  were  often  tlie  fiercest 
persecutors.  Church  and  State  were  closely  inter- 
mingled;  heresy  was  a  crime  as  well  as  a  sin;  the 
heretic  was  a  rebel;  mild  measures  only  made  him 
bolder;  and  in  fear  of  the  overthrow  of  the  whole 
social  system  the  rulers  of  State  and  Cliurch  combined 
to  crush  him. 


A' 


CHAPTER    XIll 

THE    MENDICANT   ORDERS 

T  the  Lateral!  Council  in  1215  Innocent  III  issued 
a  decree  which  practically  forbade  the  foundation 
of  new  monastic  Orders.  The  increase  of  such  Orders 
in  the  name  of  religious  reform  had  not  always  tended 
Need  for  ^^  ^^^®  promotion  of  orthodoxy.  Moreover, 
new  kinds  the  monastic  ideal  was  the  spirHuahper- 
of  Orders,  fection  of  tlie  individual,  to  l^c  gained  by 
separation  from  the  world ;  but  the  growth  of  large 
urban  populations  with  the  accompanying  disease  and 
misery  called  for  a  new  kind  of  dedication  to  religion. 
There  was  strength  in  membership  of  an  Order,  and 
during  the  twelfth  century  there  were  founded  along- 
side of  the  newer  monastic  Orders  organisations  devoted 
to  social  work  of  various  kinds.  Such  was  tlie  orii^in 
of  the  Hospitallers  and  })erhaps  of  the  Templars  also, 
and  of  a  number  of  small  Orders,  most  of  them  merely 
local  in  tlicir  work  and  following,  which  were  founded 
all  over  "Western  Europe  for  care  of  the  sick  and 
pilgrims  and  for  other  charitable  work. 

A  point  that  demanded  even  more  immediate 
attention  was  the  almost  total  neglect  of  preaching 
l;)y  the  parochial  clergy  and  the  consequent  success  of 
the  AValdensian  and  (»ther  lieretical  preachers.  There 
were  isolated  examples  of  missionary  devotion  among 
the  clergy.     Fulk    of    Neuilly,   a   priest,  obtained   a 

216 


THE   MENDICANT   ORDJ^KS  217 

licence  from  Innocent  III  to  preach,  and  met  with 
marvellous  success  among  the  Cathari  until  he  was 
turned  aside  by  Innocent's  exhortation  to  preacli  a 
new  crusade.  lUit  lie  died  before  it  set  out  (1202). 
Duran  de  Huesca,  a  Catalan,  conceived  the  idea  of 
fighting  the  heretics  with  their  own  weapons,  and 
founded  the  Pauperes  Catholici  as  an  Order  professing 
poverty  and  engaged  in  missionary  work.  But  the 
outbreak  of  the  Albigensian  War  superseded  the  work 
of  the  Order  by  more  summary  methods  of  dealing 
with  heretics. 

But  these  Poor  Catholics  were  the  precursors,  if  not 
the  actual  model  of  the  Preaching  Friars  of  St. 
Dominic.  The  founder  was  a  Spaniard, 
who  had  studied  long  in  the  University  of  cans^"^' 
Palencia,  and  had  become  sub-prior  of  the 
cathedral  of  Osma.  He  accompanied  his  bishop  to 
Kome,  and  thence  on  a  mission  among  the  Albigenses. 
He  wandered  as  a  mendicant  through  the  most  heretical 
districts  of  Lauguedoc  for  three  years  (1205-8)  before 
the  outbreak  of  war,  holding  religious  discussions  with 
leading  heretics.  But  amid  the  clash  of  arms  his 
activity  took  a  different  shape.  Communities  had 
been  founded  among  the  Albigenses  for  the  reception 
of  the  dauditers  of  dead  or  ruined  nobles.  For  the 
protection  of  such  and  of  any  others  of  the  gentle  sex 
who  returned  to  Catholicism,  Dominic  founded  the 
monastery  of  Prouille  (1206).  This  was  established 
on  the  lines  of  houses  in  other  Orders ;  and  although 
he  led  a  life  of  extreme  asceticism,  he  did  not  at  first  / 
contemplate  imposing  a  rule  of  collective  poverty  upon 
his  Order.  Indeed,  he  received  for  the  use  of  Prouille 
gifts  of  all  kinds   in   land   and   movables,  and   even 


2i8         THE  CHUi^CH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

increased  the  possessions  by  purchase.     Towards  tlie 
end   of  tlie  ^var  Dominic  established  a  brotherhood 
whicli  shouhl  devote  itself  to  preacliing  with  a  view 
to  refuting  heretics.     In    1215    lie    appeared   at  the 
Lateran  Council,  in  order  to  obtain  tlie  papal  approba-  j 
tion  of  this  new  Order.     Innocent  III,  while  taking  ' 
under  his  protection  the  monastery  of  Prouille,  desired 
Dominic  to  choose  an  already  existing  rule  for  his  new  i 
community.     The  Dominican  legend  depicts  Innocent 
as   converted   to   the  recognition  of  the  Order  by  a 
dream,  in  wliich  he  saw  the  Lateran  Church  tottering 
and  upheld  by  the  support  of  the  Spanish  saint.     But 
Innocent  died  before  Dominic  had  decided  with  his 
followers  that  they  would  place  themselves  under  the 
rule  of  the   Augustinian    Canons;   and   it   was   from 
Honorius  III  that  the  Friars  Preachers  obtained  tlie  | 
confirmation  of  their  Order.     A  parallel  story  is  told 
of  the  papal  approval  of  the  Franciscans ;  but  there  is 
no  proof  that  St.  Francis  was  present  at  the  Council, 
nor  is  it  likely  that  in  the  face  of  the  decree  against 
the  foundation  of  new  Orders  the  sanction  of  the  Pope 
should  have  been  criven  to  his  rule.     But  the  meetintr 
of  the  two  great  founders  at  Eome  in  1216  is  an  his- 
torical event  of  great  importance ;  for  the  example  of 
the    Franciscans   caused   tlie  adoption  of  the  life  of 
poverty  by  the  Dominicans  also. 

Immediately  after  the  papal  confirmation  the  Order 

began  its  work.    The  first  followers  of  Dominic  included 

natives  of  Spain,  England,  Normandy,  and 

,  Lorraine,  and  the  Friars  Preachers  are  soon 

spread.  ' 

found  in  every  country  of  Western  and 
Central  Europe.  The  nature  of  the  work  to  which 
they  set  themselves  made  them  from   the  beginning  I 


THK   MENDICANT  ORDERS  219 


a    con^reg-ation   of    intellectual   men.     Honorius    ill 
conferred  on  Dominic  himself  the  Mastership  of  the 
Sacred  Palace,  which  gave   to  lum,  and  even  more  to 
those  who  succeeded  him  in  the  headship  of  the  Order, 
not  merely  the  religions  instruction  of  the  households 
of  popes   and   cardinals,   but  also    the   censorship  of 
books.     Paris,    the    headquarters    of    the    scholastic 
theology,  and  Bologna,  the  great  law  school   of   the 
Middle  Ai^es,  became  at  once  the  chief  seats  of  train- 
ing.     The  Dominicans  spread  so  rapidly  that  at  the 
death  of  their  founder  in  1221  they  possessed  sixty 
houses,  which  had  just   been  divided  into  eight  pro- 
vinces.     To    these    four    were    subsequently    added. 
The  death  of  Dominic,  like  his  life,  has  been  almost 
overwhelmed   in    the    miraculous ;    but    for   whatever 
reason,  it  was  not  until  thirteen  years  after  his  death 
that  he  was  enrolled  among  the  recognised  saints  of 
the  Church,  although  the  honour  of  canonisation  had 
been  paid  to  St.  Francis  eight  years  earlier  and  within 
two  years  of  his  death. 

Jealousy  between  the  conventual  and  the  paro- 
chial clergy  had  been  of  long  standing :  it  had 
been  based  upon  the  exemption  of  monks  Popularity 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  local  Church,  of  the 
The  monks  had,  however,  been  definitely  ^"^^s. 
warned  off  themselves  taking  part  in  parochial 
work.  But  the  friars  began  with  a  missionary  pur- 
pose:  and  in  1227  Gregory  IX,  who  as  Cardinal 
Ugolino  had  been  Protector  of  the  Franciscans,  con- 
ferred on  both  Orders  the  right  not  only  of  preach- 
ing, but  also  of  hearing  confessions  and  granting  abso- 
lution  everywhere.  The  rules  of  the  Orders  forbade 
them  to  preach  in  a  church  without  the  leave  of  the 


220         THE  CHURCH   AND   THE  EMPIRE 

parish  priest ;  but  they  ignored  this  prohibition,  set  up 
their  own  altars,  at  wliich  a  ]»apal  privilege  allowed 
them  to  celebrate  Mass,  and  not  only  superseded  tlie 
lazy  secular  clergy  in  all  the  work  of  the  cure  of  souls, 
but  deprived  them  of  the  fees  which  were  a  chief 
source  of  their  income.  The  secular  clergy  bitterly 
resented  the  presence  of  the  intruders ;  but  the  Tope 
favoured  the  friars  and  heaped  privileges  upon  them, 
since  they  formed  an  international  body  easy  to 
mobilise  for  use  against  the  hierarchy,  and  able  to  be 
used  for  transmitting  and  executing  i)apal  orders.  The 
people  also  welcomed  them,  because,  at  first  at  any 
rate,  they  worked  for  their  daily  bread,  and  were  pre- 
vented by  their  vow  of  poverty  from  seeking  endow- 
ments ;  while  the  peripatetic  character  of  his  life  made 
the  friar  popular  as  a  confessor  who  could  know 
nothing  about  his  penitents. 

The  characteristic  work  of  the  Dominicans  as 
preachers  and  teachers  rather  determined  the  par- 
Domini-  ticular  form  which  the  struggle  should  as- 
cans  and  sume  between  them  and  the  seculars.  The 
University  University  of  Paris  welcomed  the  Domini-  , 
°  ^"^'  cans  on  their  first  arrival ;  the  new-comers  ' 
soon  fixed  themselves  in  the  Hospital  of  St.  Jacques 
(the  site  of  the  Jacobin  Club  of  1789),  on  University 
ground,  and  many  members  of  the  University  became 
afliliated  to  their  Order.  In  1229  the  privileges  of  the 
University  were  violated  by  the  municipality,  and, 
since  tlie  Crown  would  give  no  redress,  the  wliole  body 
of  masters  and  students  dispersed  themselves  among 
different  provincial  towns.  In  1231  a  bull  of  Gregory 
IX  confirmed  their  privileges  and  brought  them  back\ 
to  Paris.     But  during  tlieir  absence  the  Dominicans, 


THE   MRNDrCANT   ORDKRS  221 

with  the  approval  of  the  lUsliop,  admitted  scholars  to 
their  house  of  St.  Jacques  and  appointed  their  own 
teachers ;  while  several  of  the  most  famous  secular 
teachers  took  the  Dominican  habit.  Thus  after  1231 
there  were  in  the  University  several  theological  chairs  1 
occupied  by  Mendicants.  The  prosperity  and  aggres- 
siveness of  tlie  friars,  and  political  and  doctrinal 
differences  between  them  and  the  seculars,  caused 
great  tension.  Not  without  reason  the  seculars  com- 
plained that  they  were  likely  to  be  deprived  of  all  the 
theological  teaching.  Matters  came  to  an  issue  in 
1253,  when,  on  the  murder  of  a  scholar  by  the  munici- 
pal officers,  the  University  in  accordance  with  its 
privileges  proclaimed  a  cessation  or  suspension  of  the 
classes.  In  this  act  the  Mendicants  refused  to  join 
without  the  papal  sanction.  The  University  attempted 
to  expel  them  from  the  teaching  body,  and  under  the 
leadership  of  William  of  St.  Amour  it  so  far  prevailed 
at  Eome  that  Innocent  IV,  for  whatever  reason,  issued 
the  "  terrible "  bull  Etsi  Animarum,  by  which  the 
Mendicants  were  deprived  at  one  blow  of  all  the 
privileges  wdiich  had  given  them  the  power  of  inter- 
fering in  parochial  life.  But  in  tlie  legend  of  the 
Order  Innocent  was  prayed  to  death  by  the  revengeful 
friars.  Anyhow^  his  death  (1254)  saved  the  situation, 
since  his  successor,  Alexander  IV,  declared  unreservedly 
for  them.  The  University  was  forced  to  receive  them, 
and  to  acknowledge  their  rights  of  preaching  and  hear- 
ing confessions.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  arranged 
under  Urban  IV  that  the  number  of  theolomcal  chairs 
to  be  held  by  Mendicant  teachers,  whose  representa- 
tives at  the  moment  were  Tliomas  Aquinas  and  Bona- 
ventura,   should  be   limited  to   three.     But    the    war 


222         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE  i 

ac'ainst  tlie  ^Mmdicants  continued,  and  tlie  bullying'  to 
wliicli  the  University  was  sul)jected,  especially  by 
Benedict  Gaetani,  the  papal  legate,  in  1290,  acconnts 
perhaps  for  the  support  given  by  the  University  to 
Philip  IV  in  his  quarrel  with  Boniface  VIII,  and  for 
the  political  action  of  the  University  at  a  later  date. 

The  spread  of  heresy  and  the  feeble  attempts  of  the 
bishops  to  use  the  machinery  at  their  disposal  for  dea-l- 
incf  with  it,  caused  the  gradual  ^rrowth  of 
rriars  ana  ^|^^  system  known  as  the  Papal  Inquisition. 
This  was  feasible,  partly  because  the  civil 
government,  led  by  Frederick  II,  were  enacting  severe 
laws  against  heresy,  but  chiefly  because  in  the  new 
Mendicant  Orders  there  were  now  to  be  found  men  of 
sufficient  knowledge  and  training  to  cope  witli  the 
difficulty  of  unmasking  heresy.  Y>\\t  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  inquisitorial  work  was  a  perquisite 
of  the  Dominicans.  Both  Orders  alike  were  employed 
by  the  Papacy  in  the  unsavoury  duty,  altliough  ulti- 
mately the  Dominicans  took  the  larger  share.  For 
the  service  of  the  wretched,  to  which  the  Franciscans 
primarily  devoted  themselves,  soon  necessitated  a 
study  of  medicine  in  order  to  cope  with  disease  and  a 
study  of  tlieology  in  order  to  deal  with  heresy.  If  as 
a  body  they  never  came  to  represent  learning  like  the 
Dominicans,  the  names  of  Bonaventura,  Boger  Bacon, 
and  Duns  Scotus  sufficiently  prove  that  there  was  no 
necessary  antagonism  between  learning  and  the  Fran- 
ciscan ideal. 

The  modern  and  tlie  lYotestant  world  apparently 
finds  the  life  of  St.  Francis  as  interesting  and  wonderful 
as  his  contemporaries  found  it.  It  seems  no  exaggera- 
tion   to   say    that   "no   human  creature  since   Christ 


THE   MENDICANT  ORDERS  223 

has  more  fnlly  incarnated  tlie  ideal  of  Christianity" 
than  he.  Even  the  extravagances  of  himself  and 
some  of  his  followers,  scarcely  exaggerated 
by  the  mass  of  legends  which  has  grown  ^^^^^^^^ 
up  around  him  and  the  Order,  cannot  conceal 
the  real  beauty  of  his  life ;  while  they  bear  eloquent 
witness  not  only  to  the  impression  which  he  made  on  his 
own  and  succeeding  generations,  but  also  to  the  fact  of 
his  attempt  to  realise  the  standard  set  up  by  Christ  for 
human  imitation.  His  devotion  to  the  wretched  and 
the  outcast,  especially  the  lepers;  his  deep  humility; 
his  childlike  faith  and  absolute  obedience,  were  the 
outcome  of  a  desire  to  attain  to  the  simplicity  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles.  But  the  essence  of  his 
system  lay  in  the  idealisation  of  poverty  as  good  in 
itself  and  the  best  of  all  good  things.  Poverty  was, 
indeed,  the  "corner-stone  on  which  he  founded  the 
Order."  But  this  did  not  imply  sadness,  which  St. 
Francis  considered  one  of  the  most  potent  weapons 
of  the  devil.  Sociability,  cheerfulness,  hopefulness 
were  characteristics  of  himself  and  of  the  Order  in  its 
early  days.  Here  it  is  impossible  to  tell  the  fascinat- 
ing story  of  his  own  life,  to  describe  his  own  graphic 
preaching,  or  to  illustrate  his  instinctive  sympathy 
with  animal  life.  But  it  must  be  noted  that  his 
passionate  love  for  Christ  the  Sufferer  caused  him  to 
desire  to  reproduce  in  detail  the  last  hours  of  the 
Saviour's  life  on  earth,  until  the  ecstasies  may  have 
ended  in  producing  those  physical  marks  of  the  cruci- 
fixion upon  the  body  known  as  the  Stigmata.  The 
evidence  is  conflicting  and  not  above  suspicion,  and 
the  Dominicans  always  treated  the  claim  with  ridicule. 
Certainly  the  Franciscan  Order  exalted  their  founder 


I 


224  THE  CHURCH   AND  THE   EMPIRE 

witli  an  extravagance  wliicli  ultimately  (l."^)85)  ended  in 
tlie  production  of  a  Book  of  Conformities,  some  forty  in 
number,  in  wliicli,  by  implication,  the  simple  friar 
becomes  a  second  if  not  a  rival  Clirist. 

It  was  in  1210  that  Francis  and  the  Brotherhood  of 
Penitents  which  he  had  founded  at  Assisi  appeared 
in   Bome,  and  obtained  from   Innocent   III  a  verbal 

/  confirmation  of  their  rule  and  authority  to  preach. 
This  rule  seems  to  have  comprised  notliing  more  than 

\  certain  passages  of  Scripture  enjoining  a  life  of 
poverty.  The  first  disciples  of  Francis  w^ere  drawn 
from  a  variety  of  social  classes,  and  a  revelation  from 
God  is  said  to  have  decided  him  and  his  little  com- 
pany to  abandon  their  first  notion  of  a  contemplative 
life  in  favour  of  one  of  active  service  alon^^  evantjelical 
lines.  The  missionary  work  began  at  once,  and  they 
wandered  in  couples  througli  Italy,  finding  their  way 
quickly  into  France,  England,  Germany,  and  all  other 
European  lands. 

The   future   organisation  of   the   Order  was  deter- 
mined by  a  definitive  Iiule  sanctioned  by  Honorius 
III   in    1223.     Francis   refused   to   alter  any  of   the 
clauses  at  the  Pope's  request,  asserting  that 

rancis-       ^|^g  Pule  was  not  his,  but  Christ's ;  wlience 
can  Rule.       ,  t  •  p     i        -^    i         1  1 

it  became  a  tradition  or  the  Order  that  the 

Pule   liad    been    divinely   inspired.     It    was   strictly 

I  enjoined  that  the  brethren  should  possess  no  property, 

should  receive  no  money  even  through  a  third  person, 

and  that  all  who  were  able  to  labour  sliould  do  so  in 

return  not  for  money,  but  for  necessaries  for  them- 

selves   and    their   brethren.     And   as   if   these    plain 

directions   were  not  cnoui^li,  St.   Francis  in    liis    will 

enjoins  that  the  words  of  the  Pule  are  to  be  understood 


\ 


THE  MENDICANT  ORDERS  225 

"  simply   and   absolutely,  witliout  gloss,"   and   to   be 

observed  to  the  end. 

The   organisation    aimed    at    beinjj;    non-monastic ; 

the  houses,  whicli  should  l)e  mere  head([uarters  of  the 

simplest  kind,  were  placed  under  g;uardians    ^ 

1,1         -1  11  .1  Organisa- 

who  had  neither  the  title  nor  the  powers    ^.^^^ 

of  the  monastic  abbot,  and  were  grouped 
into  provinces;  while  the  provincial  ministers  were 
responsible  to  the  General  Minister  stationed  at 
Assisi,  who  was  himself  chosen  by  the  General  Chapter 
of  the  provincials  and  guardians  called  every  three 
years,  and  could  also  be  deposed  by  them.  A  Cardinal 
w^atched  the  interests  of  the  Order  at  Eome.  The 
rapid  spread  of  the  Franciscans  is  shown  from  the 
fact  that  the  first  General  Chapter  in  1221  is  said  to 
have  been  attended  by  several  thousand  members, 
w^hile  in  1260,  when  Bonaventura  as  General  re- 
organised the  arrangements,  a  division  was  made 
into  33  provinces  and  3  vicariates  which  included 
in  all  182  guardianships.  England,  for  example, 
comprised  7  guardianships  with  49  houses  and  1242 
friars. 

The  Order  included  other  branches  than  the  fully 
professed  friars.  Some  time  before  1216  a  sisterhood 
was  added  in  the  Order  of  St.  Claire  under  a  noble 
maiden  of  Assisi,  who  put  herself  under  the  guidance 
of  Francis  and  received  from  Pope  Innocent  for  her- 
self and  her  sisters  the  *'  privilege  of  poverty."  They 
observed  the  Franciscan  Kule  in  all  its  strictness,  and 
their  founder  was  canonised  in  1255,  two  years  after 
her  death. 

A  very  distinctive  feature  of  the  Franciscans  is  the 
organisation   officially    known    as    the    Brothers   and 

Q 


226         THE   CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


Sisters  of    renitence,  but  more  popularly  described 

as    the   Tertiaries   of   the    Order.     The   affiliation    of 

laymen  and  women  to  religious  Orders  was 
Tertiaries.     ^^  ^^^^^  ^^^.^^^^      j,^^^  ^^^^  ^^.^^  ^^  ^^^j^  ^^^^^ 

who  attached  themselves  by  bonds  of  brotherhood  and 

in  associations  for  prayer  to   the  great   monasteries 

were  mostly  well-born  and  wealthy,  prospective  if  not 

actual   patrons.      The    Franciscan  Tertiaries  were   as 

democratic  as  the   Order  itself.     The  papal  sanction 

was  given  in  1221.     The  members  were  required  to 

live  the  ordinary  daily  life  in  the  world  under  certain 

restrictions.     In  addition  to  the  obligations  of  religion 

and  morality,  they  were  required  to  dress  simply  and 

to  avoid  certain  ways  of  amusement,  wdiile  they  were 

forbidden  to  carry  weapons  except  for  the  defence  of 

their    Church     and    their    land.       The    Dominicans 

possessed  a  similar   organisation  under  the  name   of 

Militia   Jesit  Christi,  the  Soldiery  of  Christ.     In  the 

case  of  both  Orders  this  close  contact  with  the  laity 

irrespective  of  class  was  a  source  of  great  strength  and 

influence.     Many,  from  ro}^l  personages  downwards, 

enrolled  themselves  among  the   Tertiaries   or   hoped 

to  assure   an   entrance  to  heaven   by  assuming   the 

garb  of  a  friar  upon  the  death-bed. 

Since  both  Orders  were  founded  with  a  missionary 

purpose,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  tliat  at  a  very  early 

^  .  date    tliey   extended    their    efforts    beyond 

Friars  as  "^  ... 

mission-        Europe.      No    real    distinction    of    spliere 
aries  can  be  profitably  made ;    but  perhaps  the 

to  the  Dominican  work  lay  chiefly  among  heretics, 

while  the  Franciscans  devoted  the  greater 
attention  to  the  heathen.  Certainly  St.  Francis  himself 
did  not  deal  with  heretics  as  such.     He  did,  however, 


THE   MENDICANT  ORDERS  227 


try  to  convert  the  Moliammedans  and  became  for  a 
while  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  tlie  Sultan  of  Egypt. 
I>oth  Orders  establislied  liouses  in  Talestine  and  both 
Orders  were  employed  in  embassies  to  the  Mongols. 
The  Dominicans  brought  back  the  Jacobite  Church  of 
the  East  into  communion  with  liome,  while  the  Francis- 
cans won  King  Haiton  of  Armenia,  who  entered  their 
Order.  Stories  of  martyrdom  were  frequent.  At  any 
rate,  the  friars  were  among  the  most  enterprising  of 
mediteval  travellers,  and  were  the  first  to  bring  large 
portions  of  the  Eastern  world  into  contact  with  the 
West. 

The  story  of  the  Dominican  Order  in  the  thirteenth 
century  is  one  of  continual  progress.     It  was  devoted 
to  poverty  no  less  than  its  companion  Order,    p. 
But  circumstances   soon  showed  that    this    from 
was  a  principle  which  in  its  strictness  made    original 
too  great   a  demand  upon    human  nature.    P*"^"^^?^^- 
Relaxation  of  tlie  Eules  was  obtained  from  more  than 
one    pope ;    the   popularity   of    the    Orders    brought 
them  great  wealth,  and  land  and  other  property  was 
held  by  municipalities    and  other   third  parties    for 
the  use  of  the  friars.     Their  houses  and  their  churches 
became  as  magnificent  as  those  of   the  monks.     But 
while    this   grave    departure  from   the   original  ideal 
gave  rise  to  no  qualms  among  the  more  worldly  and 
accommodating  Dominicans,  it  rent  asunder  the  whole 
Franciscan  Order  in  a  quarrel  which   forms  perhaps 
the  most   interesting  and   important  episode  in   the 
religious  history  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  conflict  began  at  once  after  St.  Francis'  death. 
His  successor  as  General  of  the  Order,  Elias  of  Cortona, 
desired   to  supersede   the  democratic  constitution  of 


228         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMIMRE 

the  Order  in  favour  of  a  despotic  rule,  and  obtained 
from  Gret^ory  IX  a  relaxation  of  the  strict 

T~V  1  O  t/ 

Develop-       ^.^^|^  ^^  ])0verty;  while  he  raised  over  the 

ment  of  •  e   .^       e  i  ^     a      ■   • 

extreme        remains  or  the  rounder  at  Assisi  a  magni- 

views  ticent  church  wliicli   tlie  saint  would  have 

among  repudiated.      The  bitter  complaints  of  the 

Franciscans  who  wished  to  observe  the  Eule 
ciscans, 

in  the  spirit  of  their  founder  obliged  the 
Tope  to  depose  Elias,  who  took  refuge  at  the  Court  of 
Frederick  If.  But  tlie  tendency  towards  relaxation 
continued  and  was  favoured  by  the  Papacy.  For  the 
Spirituals — those  who  clung  to  the  strict  Pvule  and 
res^arded  it  as  a  direct  revelation  to  St.  Francis — 
by  the  severity  of  their  practices  tended  to  isolate 
tliemselves  from  tlie  life  around  them  and  so  to  escape 
the  discipline  of  the  Church.  In  addition  to  this  they 
became  involved  in  heresy  by  identifying  themselves 
with  the  prophecies  attached  to  the  name  of  Joachim 
de  Flore.  He  was  the  Abbot  of  a  Calabrian  monastery, 
who  founded  an  Order  at  tlie  end  of  the  twelfth 
century.  He  depicted  the  history  of  mankind  as 
composed  of  three  periods — the  first  under  the  dis- 
pensation of  tlie  Father  ending  at  the  birth  of  Christ; 
the  second  under  the  Son,  which  by  various  calculations 
he  determined  would  end  in  12G0  ;  and  the  third  ruled 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  which  the  Eucharist,  which  had 
itself  superseded  the  paschal  lamb,  should  give  way 
to  some  new  means  of  grace.  Joachim  also  foretold 
the  rise  of  a  new  monastic  order  which  should  con- 
vert the  world,  and  this  tlie  Franciscans  concluded  to 
mean  themselves.  Curiously  enough,  the  Church  did 
not  condemn  Joachim  for  his  prophecies  :  popes  even 
encouraged  him  to  write. 


) 


/ 


THE   MENDICANT  ORDEHS  2^9 


In  1254  tliere  appeared  in  Paris  a  book  entitled 
the  Introdmtion  to  the  Everlasting  Go^iid,  a  name 
taken  from  a  passage  of  the  Eevelation  (xiv.  6).  We 
know  it  only  from  the  denmiciations  of  its  enemies ; 
but  it  was  •  apparently  intended  to  consist  of  tliree 
undoubted  works  of  Joachim  with  explanatory  glosses 
and  an  introduction.  These  were  the  work  of  Friar 
Gerard  of  Borgo-san-Donnino,  who  is  represented  as 
having  gone  beyond  the  views  of  the  Calabrian 
prophet.  He  asserted  that  about  the  year  1200  the 
spirit  of  life  had  left  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in 
order  to  pass  into  the  Everlasting  Gospel,  and  that  this 
new  scripture,  of  which  the  text  was  composed  of 
Joachim's  three  books,  was  a  new  revelation  which  did 
not,  as  Joachim  held,  contain  the  mystical  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible,  but  actually  replaced  and  effaced 
the  Law  of  Christ  as  that  had  effaced  the  Law  of 
Moses.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  how  far  the  author 
represented  the  views  of  all  the  Spirituals.  A  share 
in  the  composition  was  ascribed  to  the  Francis- 
can General  John  of  Parma  (1248-57),  who  repre- 
sented the  purest  Franciscan  tradition,  and  was  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  more  extravagant  forms  of  the 
Franciscan  legend.  He  was  a  gentle  mystic,  and  his 
belief  in  the  prophetical  utterances  of  the  age  probably 
did  not  go  beyond  the  actual  works  of  Joachim.  But 
his  sympathy  encouraged  the  extreme  Joachites,  who 
manufactured  aud  passed  from  hand  to  hand  a  large 
number  of  spurious  prophetical  writings  whicli  were 
attributed  to  Joachim. 

Moreover,  the  extravagances  of  the  Spirituals  were 
no  isolated  outburst  of  religious  liberty.  In  1251 
there  appeared  in  France  an  elderly  preacher,  known 


230         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

as  the  Hungarian,  who,  professing  a  revelation  from 
the  Virgin  Mary  and  preaching  a  social  revolution, 
led  a  band  of  peasants  and  rioters  through 
Popular  j^i^Q  country,  until  the  leader  was  killed  in 
tions  ^  scuffle  and  his  foUow^ers  were  dispersed. 

In  1260  Italy  was  startled  by  processions 
of  persons  of  all  classes  and  ages,  stripped  to  the 
waist,  who  flogged  themselves  at  intervals  in  penance 
for  their  sins.  These  movements  of  the  Pasteauroux 
and  the  Flagellants  were  merely  the  best  known 
among  many  which  bore  witness  to  the  restlessness 
and  yearning  of  the  age. 

But  despite  the  manifest  danger  of  these  movements 
the  Papacy  acted  with  great  caution.  In  1255  a 
tribunal  of  three  Cardinals  at  Anagni 
action  and  ii^'^'Gstigated  the  charges  against  Gerard's 
its  effect.  book.  Joachim's  orthodoxy  remained  un- 
questioned ;  the  Everlasting  Gospel  was  con- 
demned, but  the  Bishop  of  l*aris  was  told  not  to 
annoy  the  Franciscans.  The  most  important  result 
was  that  John  of  Parma  was  deposed  by  the  General 
Chapter  acting  under  the  influence  of  the  Conventual 
Franciscans,  who  w^elcomed  the  relaxations  of  the 
severe  Eule.  For  their  new  head  was  Bonaventura, 
himself  a  mystic ;  but  the  fact  that  he  had  taken  the 
place  of  their  beau  ideal,  that  he  distrusted  the  rule 
of  absolute  poverty  as  tending  to  weaken  the  social 
worth  of  tlie  Franciscan  body,  and  that  he  was  a 
recoii;nised  leader  in  tlio  Church — all  increased  tlie 
alienation  of  tlie  Spirituals  from  the  Cliurch  and 
suggested  to  their  minds  the  idea  of  schism. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Conventuals  met  the  austere 
intolerance    of    tlie    extreme    party    by    persecution. 


THE   MENDICANT  ORDERS  2v 


v) 


The  most  interesting  victim  of  this  religious  rancour 
was  Peter  John,  the  son  of  Olive,  a  French  friar, 
whose  works  were  condemned  more  than 
once,  although  he  died  quietly  in  1298.  separation. 
He  allowed  to  the  Franciscans  only  the 
sustenance  necessary  for  daily  life  and  the  furniture 
for  the  celebration  of  divine  service.  In  his  view 
the  Eoman  Church  was  Babylon,  and  the  Eule  of  St. 
Francis  was  the  law  of  the  Gospel.  For  those  who 
held  such  views  there  was  no  place  in  the  P^oman 
Church.  The  Spirituals  began  to  seek  relief  in  a 
return  to  the  eremitic  life.  But  the  sudden  elevation 
of  a  hermit  of  South  Italy  to  the  Papacy  in  the  person 
of  Celestine  V  seemed  to  present  to  these  dreamers  the 
chance  of  the  accomplishment  of  the  new  Gospel. 
His  hopeless  failure  and  abdication  turned  tlieir 
thoughts  more  than  ever  to  separation  from  the 
Church.  Celestine,  who  had  gathered  some  of  the 
extreme  Franciscans  into  a  community  of  his  own,  is 
said  to  have  released  them  from  obedience  to  the 
Franciscan  Order.  In  any  case,  Boniface  YIII  not 
only  secured  the  ex-Pope,  but  also  attempted  to  exter- 
minate his  followers.  So  far  the  question  at  issue  had 
been  a  disciplinary  question  which  concerned  the 
Franciscan  Order — whether  for  the  Order  absolute 
poverty  was  of  the  essence  of  the  Kule.  The  time 
was  at  hand  when  the  question  w^ould  assume  a 
doctrinal  form,  and  the  Church  at  large  would  be 
called  upon  to  decide  whether  absolute  poverty  was 
an  article  of  the  Christian  faith. 


\ 

\ 


CHAPTER    XIV 
THE     CHURCH     AND     THE      HEATHEN 

FEOM  the  time  of  Otto  I  it  was  the  policy  of  the 
German  Kings  to  Germanise  and  Christianise  the 
Hungary  nations  on  their  eastern  border,  as  a  pre- 
and  paratory   step    to   inchiding    them    in    the 

Poland.  Empire.  Otto  had  exacted  homage  from  the 
rulers  of  Hungary,  Poland,  and  Bohemia,  but  under 
his  successors  they  broke  away ;  and  although,  mean- 
wliile,  Christianity  was  accepted  by  the  rulers  in  all 
three  countries,  Hungary  and  Poland  both  established 
their  independence  politically  of  the  German  King, 
and  ecclesiastically  of  the  German  Metropolitan  of 
Mainz  or  Magdeburg.  Henry  III  reasserted  the 
political  influence  in  Germany ;  but  it  was  to  the 
interest  of  the  Pope  to  encourage  the  independent 
attitude  of  the  Churches  in  Hungary  and  Poland  so 
long  as  they  recognised  the  Poman  su})rcmacy.  Put 
even  politically  Gregory  A^II  told  Solomon,  King  of 
Hungary  (1074),  that  Irs  kingdom  "belongs  to  the 
holy  Poman  Churcli,  having  been  formerly  offered  by 
King  Stephen  to  St.  Peter,  together  with  every  riglit 
and  power  belonging'  to  hiui,  and  devoutly  liandod 
over."  A  similar  claim,  of  whicli  the  basis  was  mucli 
more  doubtful,  was  made  to  Poland. 

The  Czechs  in  Bohemia  were  less  fortunate.    Boleslas 
Chrobry,  i.e.  tlie    I'>rave,  of   IN. laud    (992-1025),   had 


2  '^2 


THE    (HURCH    AND   THE    HEATHEN      233 


aspired  to  rule  over  an  united  kingdom  of  the  Nortliern 

Slavs,  but  had  to  be  content  with  the  in-  . 

T^  T  I      1  •       1  Bohemia. 

dependence    of    his    own    rolisli    kingdom. 

Bretislas  of  Bohemia  (1037-55)  had  a  similar  ambi- 
tion ;  but  he  could  not  shake  off  the  German  yoke,  and 
his  bishopric  of  Prague  remained  a  suffragan  of  the 
Metropolitan  of  Mainz. 

North  of  Bohemia,  in  the  country  lying  between  the 
Baltic,  the  Elbe,  and  the  Oder,  Otto  had  established 
a  series  of  marks  or  border-lands  in  which 
he  had  built  towns,  introduced  German  of  Bremen, 
colonists,  and  founded  bislioprics  which  he 
had  grouped  round  a  new  Metropolitan  at  Magdeburg. 
Here  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  the  House  of 
Billung  did  much  to  keep  under  the  surging  tide  of 
paganism.  It  was  the  ambitions  of  Adalbert,  Arch- 
bishop of  Bremen  (1043-72),  which  for  a  time  caused 
a  serious  heathen  reaction  in  this  quarter.  He  was 
the  rival  of  Hanno  of  Koln  for  influence  at  the  Court 
during  Henry  IV's  minority.  As  the  most  northern 
German  Metropolitan  he  aspired  to  set  up  a  patri- 
archate in  Northern  Europe.  He  met  with  consider- 
able success  in  Scandinavia. 

The  Christianisation  of  Denmark  had  been  completed 
under  Cnut,  who  also  ruled  over  England  (1014-35). 
Norway  was  also  being  rapidly  converted ; 
but    the   forcible    methods    of   King    Olaf,    ^^^^^^'■ 
who  afterwards  became  the  patron  saint  of 
his  country,  roused  discontent.      Cnut  added  Norway 
to  his  dominions,  and  was  anxious  to  make  his  realm 
ecclesiastically    independent.     He    established    three 
bishoprics  in  Denmark,  but  did  not  get  his  own  metro- 
politan,   and   his  empire  fell    asunder   at   his    death. 


234         THE  CHURCH   AND  THE  EMPIRE 


Adalbert  made  a  close  alliance  with  Swein  of  Denmark, 
and  thus  kept  the  Danish  Church  dependent.  Harold 
Hardrada  struggled  against  Adalbert's  attempts  to 
assert  his  power  in  Norway.  Sweden  had  accepted 
Christianity  under  Olaf  Stotkonung,  i.e.  the  Lap-King, 
who  died  in  1024  But  until  towards  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  century  heathenism  continued  to  maintain 
itself,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  Christian  party  were 
considerably  increased  by  the  assertive  policy  of 
Bremen.  Adalbert's  schemes  were  wide-reaching.  He 
sent  bishops  to  the  Orkneys,  to  Iceland,  and  even  to 
Greenland,  of  which  the  last  two  lands  had  been  con- 
verted by  missionaries  from  Norway  and  ultimately 
became  subject  to  the  Metropolitan  of  Norway. 

But  the  real  mischief  of  Adalbert's  ambitious 
schemes  was  apparent  east  of  the  Elbe.  He  founded 
the  bishopric  of  Hamburg,  and  held  it  in 
addition  to  Bremen.  He  sent  bishops  to 
liatzeburc'  and  Mecklenburcj  across  the  Elbe.  He 
encouraged  Henry  IV's  schemes  against  the  Saxons  in 
order  to  diminish  the  power  of  the  House  of  Billung, 
who  were  his  rivals  in  that  quarter.  The  various 
tribes  of  the  Wends — Wagrians,  Obotrites,  Wiltzes — 
had  been  drawn  tof]jether  into  one  kinGjdom  under 
Gottschalk  (101:7-66),  himself  a  Christian,  who 
founded  churches  and  monasteries,  and  has  been 
likened  to  Oswald  of  North umbria  in  that  he  inter- 
preted the  missionaries'  sermons  to  his  heathen  sub- 
jects. This  dominion  had  been  established  under  the 
l)rotection  of  the  Saxon  dukes.  But  Henry  IV's 
([uarrels  with  Saxony  distracted  the  attention  of  the 
Billungs  and  their  followers ;  and  Gottschalk's  death 
was  followed  by  a  heathen  reaction  in  wliich,  together 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  HEATHEN   235 

with  the  extirpation  of  other  marks  of  Christianity, 
the  bishoprics  were  destroyed,  and  among  them  Adal- 
bert's own  foundation  of  Hamburg.  This  was  the 
beginning;  of  the  end.  Adalbert's  successor  had  to  be 
content  witli  Bremen  alone.  Moreover,  in  the  investi- 
ture struggle  he  was  loyal  to  Henry  IV;  and  since 
Eric  of  Denmark  declared  for  the  Pope,  Urban  II 
made  the  Danish  prelate  of  Lund  the  Metropolitan  of 
the  North  (1103).  This  arrangement  caused  discon- 
tent in  the  two  other  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  and 
ultimately  Eugenius  III  sent  Cardinal  Breakspear,  the 
future  Hadrian  IV,  on  a  mission  which  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  Nidaros  or  Drontheim  as  the  see  of 
a  primate  for  Norway,  and  of  Upsala  in  a  similar 
capacity  for  Sweden.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  this  point  that  Finland  owed  its  conver- 
sion to  Sweden  very  shortly  afterwards,  though  the 
Swedish  attempts  in  Esthonia  failed. 

Meanwhile  among  the  Wends  Gottschalk's  son 
revived  his  father's  authority  and  contact  with 
German   civilisation ;   but   after    1131    the 

Wendish  kinsrdom  fell  to  pieces,  and  from        ^^LJ^^„ 
o  ^  ^  conversion. 

that  moment  we  can  mark  the  steady 
advance  of  German  power  to  the  Oder.  The  Billung 
line  of  Saxon  dukes  had  become  extinct  in  1106,  and 
Henry  V  had  given  the  ducal  name  to  Lothair,  who 
succeeded  him  as  Emperor,  and  who  as  Duke  aimed  at 
building  up  a  strong  dominion  in  north-eastern  Ger- 
many. As  Emperor  he  took  up  the  civilising  role  of 
Otto  the  Great  and  encouraged  the  Germanisation  of 
the  Slavs.  The  actual  work  was  done  by  his  chief 
adviser  Norbert,  whom  he  had  almost  forced  to  be- 
come Archbishop  of   Magdeburg.     He  acted  in  con- 


236        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

junctinii  with  Alljcrt  tlie  Bear,  a  descendant  in  the 
female  line  of  the  Billunc;  dukes  and  Mamrave  of  the 
Northniark,  who  himself  founded  bishoprics  among  his 
immediate  neighbours  the  Wiltzes.  Albert's  soldiers 
prepared  the  way  for  Norbert's  Premonstratensian 
canons,  and  bislioprics  were  founded  with  so  little 
regard  for  division  of  territory,  even  in  Poland  and 
Pomerania,  that  both  Gnesen  and  Lund  found  them- 
selves for  a  time  subordinated  to  Magdeburg.  Two 
names  are  especially  associated  with  the  conversion  of 
the  Wends.  In  1121,  under  the  patronage  of  Lothair 
who  was  not  yet  Emperor,  Yicelin  began  his  work 
among  the  Wagrians,  and  in  1149  he  became  their 
Bishop  witli  his  see  at  Oldenburg.  He  died  in  1154. 
It  was  under  the  auspices  of  Henry  the  Lion,  now 
Duke  of  Saxony,  that  Berno  preached  to  the  Obotrites, 
converting  the  Wendish  Prince  and  becoming  Bishop 
of  Mecklenburg.  The  gradual  advance  of  German 
colonisation  had  weakened  the  "Wendish  resistance  and 
prepared  the  way  for  this  restoration  of  Christianity. 
Henry  the  Lion  finished  the  work.  In  alliance  with 
Waldemar  II  of  Denmark  he  repeated  with  greater 
completeness  the  work  of  founding  bishoprics,  estab- 
lishing houses  of  Premonstratensians,  whose  missionary 
activity  was  now  shared  by  the  Cistercians,  building 
towns  and  introducing  colonists,  until  the  whole  coun- 
try between  the  Northniark  and  the  Baltic  was  in- 
cluded in  Ills  Saxon  duchy. 

The  fall  of  Henry  the  Lion  was  not  followed  by  any 

anti-German    reaction ;   and  meanwhile  the   work  of 

conversion  had  been  going  forward  among 

the    Slavs    beyond    the    Oder.     The   first 

attempts  of  tlie  Poles  to  infiuence  tlieir  troublesome 


THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    HKATHEN      237 


ronieranian  neighbours  failed.  The  ultimate  success 
of  a  mission  was  due  to  a  German.  Otto,  a  native  of 
Suabia,  began  as  a  schoolmaster  in  I'oland.  From 
chaplain  to  the  Polish  Prince  the  Emi)eror  Henry  V 
made  him  Bishop  of  Eamberg  (1102);  and,  when 
Boleslas  III  had  subdued  part  of  Pomerania  and  found 
his  bishops  unwilling  to  attempt  its  conversion,  he 
offered  the  task  to  Otto  of  Bamberg  who,  although  an 
old  man,  undertook  it  with  the  consent  of  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor.  He  paid  two  visits — in  1124  and 
1128— both  to  Western  Pomerania,  and  established 
the  bishopric  of  AVollin.  The  conversion  was  naturally 
imperfect,  but  the  country  never  relapsed.  The  fierce 
islanders  of  Eligen  could  not  then  be  touched,  but 
ultimately  gave  way  in  1168  before  the  combined 
secular  and  spiritual  weapons  of  the  Danish  rulers. 

From  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  cities  of 
Bremen  and  Liibeck  had  established  trading  con- 
nections with   Livonia.     Following   in  the       . 

^        .    .  Livonia. 

wake  of  the  traders  (1186)  an  Augustinian 
canon,  Meinhard  by  name,  preached  Christianity  under 
permission  from  a  neighbouring  Ptussian  Prince,  and 
he  was  made  Bishop  of  Yrkill,  on  the  Diina,  under 
the  Archbishop  of  Bremen.  His  successors,  however, 
impatient  at  failure,  organised  a  crusade  from  Ger- 
many. The  third  Bishop,  Albert,  took  the  recently 
founded  trading  centre  Eiga  as  his  bishopric,  and 
organised  the  knightly  Order  of  the  Brethren  of  the 
Sword  (1202),  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Bishop. 
He  aimed  at  an  united  spiritual  and  temporal  power 
in  his  own  land,  and  in  1207  he  accepted  Livonia  as  a 
fief  from  King  Philip  of  Suabia.  But  Albert's  chief 
foes  were  those  of  his  own  household.     The  Knights 


238        THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE 

of  the  Sword  strove   for  independence    and  tried   to 

establish  tlieniselves  in  Esthonia.     Albert  appointed 

his  own  nominee  as  Bishop  there,  who  sliould  act  as  a 

check  upon  tlie  knights.    Innocent  III,  however,  gave 

the  ecclesiastical  supervision  of  Esthonia  to  the  Danish 

Archbishop   of   Lund.     But   when    the    Danish    King 

attempted  to  follow  this  up  by  asserting  a  political 

authority  his  forces  were  defeated  by  the  Esthonians. 

German   influences   prevailed;    Albert   took   Dorpat, 

made  it  the  seat  of  a  new  bishopric,  and  organised  the 

whole  country  ecclesiastically  until  his  death  in  1229; 

althoucfh  it  was  not  until  1255  that  Eic^a  became  the 

Metropolitan  of  the  Livonian  and  Prussian  Churches. 

The  Order  of  the  Sword  ceased  to  resist,  and  in  1237  it 

merc^ed  itself  in  the  Teutonic  Order  in  Prussia.     The 

conversion  of  Livonia  was  followed  by  that  of  Sem- 

gallen  in  1218,  and  finally  the  inhabitants  of  Courland, 

threatened  on  all  sides,  accepted  baptism  (1230)  as  the 

only  alternative  to  slavery. 

Between  these  lands  and  Pomerania  lay  the  savage 

Prussians.     Among  them  lUshop  Adalbert  of  Prague, 

the  Apostle    of    Boliemia,  had  ended    liis 
F^russi^ 

life  by  martyrdom  in  997  :  and  subsequent 

efforts,  whether  of  bold  missionaries  or  of  victorious 

Polish  Kings,  equally  failed.     At  length  in  1207  some 

Cistercian  monks  from  l*oland  obtained   leave  from 

Innocent  III  to  make  another  attempt    on  Prussia. 

They  were  well  received,  and  Christian  of  Oliva  was 

consecrated  bishop.     But  tlie  rulers  of  neighbouring 

lands,  notably  Conrad,  Duke  of    Masovia,  wliich  lay 

just  to  the  soutli,  schemed  to    turn  these   converted 

Prussians   into    i)olitical    dependents,    and    Cliristian 

welcomed  their  armies  as  a  means  of  hastening  on  the 


THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    HEATHEN      239 

nominal  change  of  religion.  A  crusade  was  set  on 
foot ;  but  tlie  natives  resisted  with  success,  and  began 
to  destroy  the  monasteries  established  in  the  country. 
Consequently,  in  122G  Duke  Conrad  invited  some 
members  of  the  Teutonic  Order  to  help  him.  In  1230 
came  a  large  number  of  the  knights,  and  a  devastat- 
ing war  which  lasted  for  more  than  fifty  years  (1230- 
83),  ended  in  the  nominal  conversion  of  the  remain- 
ing inhabitants. 

During  the  war  German  colonists  were  placed  upon 
the  conquered  lands  and  towns  were  founded — Konigs- 
berg  (1256)  in  honour  of  Ottocar  of  Bohemia,  who  lent 
his  aid  for  a  time ;  Marienburg  (1270),  which  became 
the  headquarters  of  the  Teutonic  Order.  Indeed,  it 
was  the  Order  which  reaped  the  benefit  of  the  con- 
quest. In  1243  Innocent  IV  divided  the  country 
ecclesiastically  into  four  bishoprics,  wdiich  were  placed 
afterwards  under  the  Livonian  Archbishop  of  Eiga  as 
their  Metropolitan.  One  of  these  four — Ermland — freed 
itself  both  ecclesiastically  from  Eiga  and  politically 
from  the  Teutonic  knights,  and  placed  itself  directly 
under  the  Pope.  The  others  were  less  fortunate,  and 
the  Order  successfully  resisted  the  joint  efforts  of  the 
bishops  and  the  Pope  to  place  them  in  a  similar  position. 

The  spread  of  Christianity  among  the  tribes  upon 
the  Baltic  coast,  imperfect  though  it  was,  led  to  per- 
manent results.     In  the  second  great  field  of 

.     .  ,••,       1      •         .1-  -Til         Missions 

missionary  activity  during  this  period  the    ^^  ^^^^ 

work   of    the   Eoman    Church    was    more 

interesting   than  effective.      It    is   difficult    now    to 

realise  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  emissaries  from 

Eome  had  nominally  organised  large  districts  of  Asia 

as  part  of  the  Christian  Church.     Nor  was  theirs  the 


240         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPUtE 

first  aimounceineiit   of    the    Gospel  in  those  regions. 

Christians  of  the  Nestorian  or  Chaldean  faith  could 

claim  adlierents  from  Persia  across  the  Continent  to 

the  heart  of  China,  and  had  even  converted  several 

Turkish  tribes. 

About  the  middle  of  the  twelftli  century  the  report 

reached   Europe   of    the   conversion   as   early  as  the 

beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  of  the 

Prester         Khan  of  the  Karait,  a  Tartar  tribe,  lyinc; 

John.  .     '  'Jo 

south    of  Lake  Baikal,  with   its  head(|uar- 

ters  at  Karakorum.  The  Syrian  Christians,  through 
whom  the  report  came,  misinterpreted  his  Mongolian 
title  Ung-Khan  as  denoting  a  priest-king  named 
John,  and  it  was  this  distant  Eastern  potentate  who 
came  to  be  known  in  Europe  as  Presbyter  Johannes  or 
Prester  John.  It  was  the  Syrian  Christians  who,  in 
their  desire  to  outvie  the  boastful  arro£^ance  of  tlieir 
Latin  neighbours,  together  with  many  apocliryphal 
tales  invented  a  letter  from  this  dignitary  to  some  of 
the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  including  the  Pope.  Et^ually 
fabulous  seems  to  have  been  the  report  to  Alexander 
III  of  a  physician  named  Philip,  that  this  shadowy 
personage  desired  reception  into  the  Eoman  com- 
munion ;  for  Alexander's  answer  apparently  met 
with  no  response.  In  1202  the  tribe  of  the  Karaites 
became  tlie  vassals  of  the  great  conipieror  Ghenghiz 
Khan,  who  is  said  to  have  added  to  his  wives  the 
Christian  dauf^liter  of  the  last  Um'-Khan  of  the  tribe. 
The  kingdom  of  Prester  John,  however,  lived  on 
in  fables,  of  which  the  best  known  relates  how  the 
Holy  Grail,  the  cup  consecrated  by  Christ  at  the  Last 
Sui)per,  had  withdrawn  from  the  sinful  AVest  and 
found  refuge  in  this  distant  land. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  HEATHEN  241 


The  conquests  of  Gliengliiz  opened  an  entirely  new 
chapter  in  tlie  relations  between  Western  Europe 
and  the  Mongols.  Ghenghiz  himself  before 
his  death  in  1227  overran  China,  '^^,^  .^*'''' 
Central  Asia,  Persia,  and  penetrated  as  Europe, 
far  west  as  tlie  Dnieper.  His  successors 
entered  Kussia  in  1237,  conquered  the  Kipchaks  about 
the  Caspian  Sea  and  pursued  their  fugitives  into 
Central  Europe,  defeated  the  Poles,  ravaged  Saxony 
and  Silesia,  and  overran  Hungary  (1240).  It  was 
fortunate  for  Europe  that  the  death  of  the  Great 
Khan  in  1242  caused  the  Mongol  leaders  to  withdraw 
their  forces  back  to  the  East.  The  chief  result  of  this 
Mongolian  raid  was  that  10,000  Kharizmians  fleeing 
before  the  Tartars  entered  the  Egyptian  service,  and 
in  1244  captured  Jerusalem  for  the  Egyptian  Sultan. 
At  the  time  of  the  Tartar  invasion  the  Papacy  was 
vacant ;  but  in  1243  Innocent  IV  was  elected,  and  in 
1245  at  the  Council  of  Lyons  a  crusade  was  mooted. 
But  the  renewal  of  the  papal  quarrel  with  Frederick 
II  so  far  added  to  the  general  indifference  that  no 
crusade  was  possible.  Louis  IX  of  France  alone 
forced  his  nobles  to  take  the  vow  and  fulfil  it. 

To  Innocent,  however,  is  due  the  credit  of  inausurat- 
ing  a  new  method  of  approaching  Eastern  nations.    It 
was  well  known  that  Christians  were  to  be 
found   in  the   Mongolian  armies;  and  the    J^^o^ent 
tolerant   treatment  accorded  to  them  was    gions. 
construed  as  a  favourable  feelins;  towards 
Christianity  itself.     The  truth  was   that  for  the  pur- 
pose   of    reconciling   all   nations    to    their    rule    the 
Mongols  tolerated  all  religions  among  their  subjects. 
Already  Mohammedanism    and    Buddhism   competed 

R 


242        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

with  the  Christianity  of  the  Nestorians  for  the  favour 
of  the  Tartar  Princes.  Their  own  religion  has  been 
characterised  as  a  vague  monotheism.  Its  lack  of 
definiteness  led  the  early  missionaries  in  their  enthusi- 
asm to  hope  that  its  followers  were  in  a  state  of  mind 
to  be  easily  persuaded  of  the  superior  claims  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  Anyhow  there  existed  for  some  time 
quite  an  expectation  in  the  West  that  the  whole  of 
Asia  would  one  day  acknowledge  the  spiritual  rule  of 
Eome.  Pope  Innocent,  therefore,  fully  convinced  of 
the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Mongols,  despatched 
two  embassies  to  them.  One  was  composed  of  John 
of  Piano  Carpi ni,  a  friend  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and 
three  other  Franciscans.  From  the  Khan  of  Kip- 
chak  at  the  Golden  Horde  on  the  Volga  they  were 
passed  on  to  the  Great  Khan,  who  ruled  now  from  the 
old  capital  of  the  Karaites  at  Karakorum.  Here  they 
were  received  in  friendly  fashion  by  the  newly  elected 
Kuyuk,  grandson  of  Ghenghiz.  The  other  embassy, 
composed  of  four  Dominicans,  visited  Persia ;  but  they 
showed  so  much  w^ant  of  tact  that  their  lives  were 
endangered,  and  they  returned  with  letters  written  in 
the  name  of  the  Great  Khan,  in  which  all  princes  of 
the  earth  were  bidden  to  come  and  pay  their  homage. 
Immediately,  then,  these  visits  were  without  result ; 
but  they  had  opened  the  way  for  further  communica- 
tions. 

It  was  known  in  the  East  that  Louis  IX  of  France 

was  preparing  to  set  out  on  crusade ;  so  that  wlien  he 

lialted   witli   his  army   in   Cyprus   lie  was 

Louis  IX s  yjg[|^gj  ],y  ^,^  envoy  i)uri)ortincr  to  come 
missions.  "  t/     x       i  o 

from     Kuyuk    and     seeking    an    alliance 

against  Mohammedans.     Louis  sent  two  Dominicans 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  HEATHEN   243 

to  a  Christian  monarch,  as  he  supposed,  armed  with 
suitable  presents ;  but  Kuyuk  was  dead,  and  the 
presents  were  treated  as  tribute.  Perhaps  in  con- 
sequence of  this  failure  Louis  turned  his  army  against 
Egypt  instead  of  Syria ;  but  the  envoys  returned  to 
find  him  after  the  disastrous  Egyptian  campaign  in 
Palestine,  where  he  spent  four  years.  In  consequence 
of  their  report  he  sent  to  Kuyuk's  successor,  Mangu,  a 
Franciscan,  William  of  Euysbroek  or  Eubruquis.  It 
was  afterwards  reported  to  the  Pope  that  Mangu  and 
another  Tartar  Prince  had  been  converted.  Such 
fabricated  stories  were  only  too  common,  liubruquis 
has  left  us  much  information  about  the  Tartar  Court ; 
but  his  public  discussions  before  the  Khan  with 
Nestorians,  Mohammedans  and  Buddhists  led  to  no 
practical  result. 

On  the  death  of  Mangu  (1257)  his  dominions  were 
divided  between  his  two  brothers.     Hulagu,  who  be- 
came Khan  of  Persia,  overthrew  the  Caliph-    Tartars 
ate   of  Bagdad ;  but    the    further  progress    and 
of  the  Mongol  armies   was  stayed  by  the    Moham- 
Mohammedan    General,  Bibars  who,   as    a  ^  ^" 

consequence  of  his  success,  shortly  became  Sultan  of 
Egypt.  Henceforth  the  Mongols  of  Persia  constantly 
sought  an  alliance  wdth  the  Christians  of  the  West 
against  the  Mohammedans  as  represented  by  Egypt, 
the  one  Mohammedan  power  which  as  yet  had  opposed 
them  with  success.  Thus  in  1274,  at  the  second 
Council  of  Lyons,  two  Persian  envoys  invited  the  co- 
operation of  Christendom,  and,  perhaps  by  way  of 
raising  the  expectations  of  such  contact,  submitted  to 
baptism  ;  but  the  hostility  of  Greeks  and  Latins  and 
the  selfish  projects  of  Charles  of  Anjou  prevented  any 


244         THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE 

response.  The  long  anarcliy  in  Kgypt  wliich  followed 
tlie  death  of  lUbars  (1277)  was  too  good  an  opportunity 
for  the  Mong<ds  to  lose ;  but  Kelaun  secured  the 
power  in  Egypt  in  time  to  repeat  the  exploits  of 
Bibars.  But  the  remaining  Latin  princes  in  Syria 
had  veered  between  the  Mohammedans  and  Mongols, 
and  Kelaun  determined  to  complete  the  destruction 
of  such  an  alien  element.  By  1291  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem  was  wiped  out.  Europe  watched  with 
comparative  indifference  the  easy  triumph  of  Mo- 
hammedanism. Not  so  the  Mongols.  Arghun,  who 
became  Khan  of  Persia  in  1284,  made  three  definite 
efforts  towards  an  alliance  which  would  mean  a  new 
crusade.  In  1287  the  Vicar  of  the  Nestorian  Patriarch 
of  China  brought  letters  to  the  Pope  and  visited  tlie 
Kinii^s  of  France  and  Em^land :  in  1289  a  Genoese 
resident  in  Persia  broudit  the  news  of  Ar<duin's  in- 
tended  invasion  of  Syria  and  his  professed  desire  for 
baptism ;  in  1290,  to  a  yet  more  pressing  call  the  Pope 
returned  a  somewhat  hopeful  answer.  But  it  was  too 
late.  Arghun  died  in  1291,  and  althou'j;h  his  eldest 
son,  Ghazan,  ultimately  took  up  his  father's  projects 
and  even  decisively  defeated  tlie  Egyptian  army  in 
Syria  (1299),  his  losses  forced  liim  to  return  to  Persia. 
It  was  reported  that  he  liad  died  a  Christian  and  in 
the  Franciscan  habit,  but  tliere  is  no  proof  of  this. 

The  more  purely  missionary  efforts  wdiich  were  being 

made  contemporaneously  witli  the  events  just  related, 

were   directed  chielly   to   Cliina   wliicli,  on 

inese         ^^^^  dealli  of  Man<4u,  liad  fallen  to  the  lot 
missions.  ^'^ 

of  Kublai  Khan.     The  opportunity  for  tliese 

was  opened  out  by  tlie  relations  already  established 

with  tlie  Mongolians  on  other  Linuinds.     The  first  mis- 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  HEATHEN  245 


sionai'ies  found  Nestorian  Christians  wIkj  wore  suIj- 
jects  and  others  who  were  captives  acting  as  clerks, 
artisans  and  merchants  at  the  Tartar  Court.  Besides 
these,  oth.ers  in  search  of  fortune  or  adventure  occasion- 
ally found  their  way  from  the  West.  Such  were  two 
Venetians,  Nicolo  and  Maffeo  Polo,  who,  having  traded 
with  the  Tartars  of  the  Golden  Horde  (1260),  were  led 
by  force  of  circumstances  further  into  Asia,  until  they 
reached  China.  Kublai  sent  them  back  to  Europe 
with  a  request  to  the  Pope  for  at  least  a  hundred  well- 
instructed  persons  who  should  initiate  his  subjects 
in  Western  lore.  They  returned  practically  alone; 
but  Nicolo's  son  Marco  accompanied  them.  They 
remained  for  seventeen  years  in  the  service  of  the 
Khan  (1275-93),  and  Marco  Polo  has  left  a  very  cele- 
brated account  of  his  travels.  This  establishment  of 
friendly  feeling  was  followed  by  a  definite  mission  of 
Franciscans,  headed  by  John  of  Monte  Corvino,  who  had 
already  organised  the  missions  in  Persia.  He  was  wel- 
comed by  Kubla'i's  successor,  and  was  allowed  to  preach. 
Despite  the  violent  opposition  of  the  Xestorians  he 
made  converts  and  built  churches.  In  1307  he  be- 
came the  first  Archbishop  of  Cambaluc  or  Peking,  while 
subsequently  no  less  than  ten  suffragans  were  grouped 
under  him.  Scarcely  less  remarkable  was  the  organ- 
isation in  Persia  of  the  archbishopric  at  Sultanyeh 
and  six  subordinate  sees.  Put  this  development  be- 
longs almost  entirely  to  the  following  period. 


CHAPTER   XV 
GUELF   AND   GHIBELLINE.     II 


rpHE  bull  of  summons  to  the    Lateran  Council  of 

JL    1215  mentions  as  the  two  great  desires  of    the 

Pope's  heart  the  recovery  of  tlie  Holy  Land 
Honorius  ^  .  -  . 

Ill  and   the  reformation    of    the   Church   Uni- 

(1216-27J  versal ;  and  it  is  made  clear  tliat  the  various 
and  the  measures  of  reform  to  be  placed  before  tlie 
General  Council  are  intended  to  bring 
Christian  princes  and  peoples,  botli  clergy  and  laity, 
into  the  frame  of  mind  for  sending  aid  to  Palestine. 
]\Ioreover,  at  the  Council  it  was  agreed  that  an  ex- 
pedition sliould  start  from  P)rindisi  or  Messina  on 
June  1,  121G.  In  any  case  Innocent's  death  would 
proljably  liave  caused  a  delay.  His  successor,  Honorius 
1 1 1,  was  a  noble  lloman  of  mild  and  gentle  character, 
who,  during  Frederick's  youtli,  had  been  his  tutor  and 
the  guardian  of  tlie  kingdom  of  Sicily.  No  less  tlian  his 
predecessor  was  he  bent  on  carrying  out  tlie  project  of 
a  crusade,  and  immediately  on  his  accession  he  appealed 
to  all  Christians  in  the  West  to  lay  aside  their  enmities, 
and  refused  to  allow  any  excuse  for  not  setting  out  to 
those  wlio  liad  taken  tlie  crusading  vow.  But  the 
apathy  was  general,  and  since  Frederick  could  not 
leave  Europe  so  long  as  his  rival  Otto  was  alive,  the 
expedition  was  robbed  of  its  natural  chief.  A  crusade, 
however,  did   go,    and   in    accordance    with   the   plan 

246 


GUELF    AND    GHIBELLINE.     II  247 


agreed  upon  at  the  Council  the  attack  was  directed 
against  Egypt.  Damietta  was  taken  (1219),  but  then 
a  long  pause  was  made  in  the  expectation  of  Frederick's 
coming.  In  1221  arrived  a  German  contingent 
under  F^rederick's  friend  Herman  von  Salza;  but  the 
crusaders  were  now  defeated  and  could  only  secure 
their  retreat  by  the  surrender  of  Damietta. 

For  despite  the  death  of  Otto  in  1218  Frederick  had 
been   detained   in   Europe.      Before   leaving   he   was 
anxious  to  secure  the  election  of   his  son    p    ,    .  , 
Henry    as    King    of    Germany.      This    he    jj 
did   not  accomplish   until   1220,  and   then  1 

only  by  the  surrender  to  the  German  princes  of  many  | 
important  royal  rights,  especially  the  right  of  spoils. 
It  was  necessary  also  to  reassure  the  Pope,  who  feared 
the  continued  union  of  Sicily  and  Germany.  Honor- 
ius  accepted  Frederick's  assurances  and  even  crowned  ( 
him  Emperor  in  St.  Peter's  (November,  1220);  and 
Frederick  attain  took  the  cross.  But  he  found  that  the 
royal  rights  in  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  had  been  much 
impoverished  during  his  minority  and  his  subsequent 
absence.  His  efforts  to  recover  them  caused  a  further 
delay  in  his  promised  crusade  and  brought  him  into 
conflict  with  papal  claims.  Honorius  was  very  long- 
suffering.  In  1223  he  agreed  to  a  postponement  of 
two  vears  on  condition  that  Frederick  should  affiance 
himself  to  lolanthe,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  John 
of  Brienne,  who  in  right  of  his  wife  bore  the  title  of 
King  of  Jerusalem.  In  1225  Frederick  not  only 
married  lolanthe  but  followed  the  example  of  his 
father-in-law  by  taking  the  title  of  King  of  Jerusalem 
in  right  of  his  wife,  who  since  her  mother's  death  was 
lawfully  Queen.     On  the  strength  of  this  act  of  self- 


248         THE    CHURCH    AND   THP:  EMIGRE 

committal  lie  obtained  another  delay  of  two  years 
until  August,  1227,  agreeing  that  if  he  did  not  then 
start  he  should  be  ipso  facto  exconnuunicate. 

But  lapse  of  time  did  not  make  it  any  easier  for  him 
to  leave  his  dominions.  In  122G  the  Lombards,  fearing 
that  Frederick's  success  in  tlie  recovery  of  royal  rights 
in  the  South  was  merely  a  prelude  to  his  renewal  of 
imperial  claims  in  North  Italy,  revived  the  old  Lom- 
bard League.  Frederick  put  them  to  the  ban  of  the 
Empire.  But  the  Tope  had  approved  tlie  League ;  and 
when  both  parties  agreed  to  refer  the  quarrel  to  him 
he  naturally  proposed  an  arrangement  favourable  to 
the  Lombards.  A  breach  with  Frederick  was  only 
averted  by  Honorius'  death  (March,  1227). 

His  successor  was  Gregory  IX,  a  relative  of  Innocent 

III  who  had  made  him  a  Cardinal  and  employed  him 

on  important  embassies.     He  has  been  des- 

regory    .    bribed  as  a  man  "of  stron<^  passions  and  an 
(1227-41;.      .  .     ,  .        . 

iron  streniitli  of  will."     He  is  said  to  have 

been  more  llian  eighty  years  of  age  at  his  accession ; 

but  he  was  vigorous  and  alert  in  mind  and  body,  a  man 

of  blameless  life  and  ardent  faith,  eloquent  and  learned, 

especially  in  law.     Hitherto  he  liad  been  friendly  to 

Frederick.    But  he  held  views  even  more  advanced  than 

those  of  Innocent  regarding  tlie  power  of  the  Papacy. 

Hence,  while  to  Honorius  the  Crusade   was  the  end 

towards  whicli  his  wliole  policy  was  directed,  Gregory 

only    desired    to    use    the   crusading    vow   taken   by 

temporal  rulers  as  a  weapon  for  the  assertion  of  the 

papal  power  against  them.     It  was  Gregory  who   as 

Cardinal  Ugolino  had  placed  the  cross  in  Frederick's 

hand  at  his  imperial  coronation.      As  Pope   he  now 

demanded  the    immediate    fultilment    of    Frederick's 


GUELF    AND    GHIBELMNE.     II  249 


promise ;  and  despite  his  reluctance  to  go  and  the 
outbreak  of  an  epidemic  in  his  army,  Frederick 
embarked  at  Brindisi  on  September  18th,  1227. 
But  tlu'ee  days  later  nnder  the  plea  of  sickness 
he  turned  back.  Gregory  never  hesitated.  On 
September  29th  in  the  cathedral  of  Anagni  in 
fulfilment  of  the  terms  agreed  to  by  Frederick  him-  J 
self,  he  excommunicated  the  Emperor  with  the  accom- 
paniment of  every  kind  of  impressive  ceremonial. 
There  seems  little  donbt  that  the  cause  of  Gregory's 
determination  to  exact  from  I'rederick  the  utmost 
penalty  for  his  failure  to  carry  out  the  agreement 
lay  in  F'rederick's  Italian  policy.  F'rederick  had 
postponed  the  crusade  in  order  to  build  up  a  power  in  I 
Sicily,  v/hich  he  was  now  trying  to  extend  to  North 
Italy  by  crushing  the  Lombard  League.  This  was  a 
fatal  bar  to  the  policy  of  a  papal  state  in  Central 
Italy,  inaugurated  by  Innocent  HI.  No  less  imminent 
was  the  dang;er  from  tlie  success  of  Frederick  in 
baftiing  the  papal  schemes  for  the  separation  of  the 
Sicilian  and  German  crowns.  It  was  becoming  I 
apparent  that  only  by  the  extinction  of  the  Hohen- 
staufen  line  could  the  papal  policy  be  carried  out. 

The  age  of  the  Crusades  was  indeed  over.  Frederick, 
in  justifying  his  action  to  the  princes  of  Europe, 
pointed  to   the   conduct   of  the   Papacy  to 

Kaymond  of    Toulouse   and  John  of  Eng-     ^^  ^"^ 
•^  ^  .  °     crusade. 

land  as  a  warning  to  secular  princes,  and 
attributed  the  papal  hostility  not  to  a  desire  for  the 
promotion  of  a  crusade,  but  to  greed.  Gregory's  con- 
duct seemed  to  bear  out  this  interpretation  of  his 
motives.  Despite  the  excommunication  Frederick 
once  more  set  sail  in  June,  1228.     But  an  expedition 


250        THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE 

under  such  circumstances  was  an  independent  act 
subversive  of  all  ecclesiasticaldiscipline.  Consequently, 
instead  of  his  departure  being  the  signal  for  the 
removal  of  his  sentence,  Frederick  was  followed  to 
Palestine  by  the  anathema  of  the  Church.  The  Pope 
having  got  Frederick  into  his  power  intended  to  keep 
him  there.  Thus  when  Frederick  reached  l*alestine 
the  Templars  and  Hospitallers  lield  aloof,  while  the 
Mendicant  Orders  preached  against  him ;  and  when, 
in  accordance  with  his  treaty  with  the  Sultan,  he 
entered  Jerusalem,  the  city  and  all  the  holy  places 
were  laid  under  an  interdict.  But  Frederick  was  not 
daunted.  Since  no  ecclesiastic  would  crown  him  he 
took  the  crown  himself  off  the  altar  and  placed  it  on 
his  head.  For  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pope,  so  with 
Frederick,  it  was  from  no  religious  motives  that  he 
persisted  in  tlie  crusade.  It  was  a  purely  political 
expedition.  He  put  the  Pope  in  the  wrong  in  the 
eyes  of  European  princes  by  refuting  the  charge  of 
the  Eoman  supporters  that  he  never  seriously  intended 
to  go  on  crusade.  But,  more  important  still,  his  own 
attitude  and  act  were  a  manifesto  on  behalf  of  the 
Empire  against  the  claim  put  forward  by  Innocent  III 
for  tlie  Papacy  as  the  head  and  leader  of  Christendom. 
But  the  very  means  of  his  success  added  to  his  enor- 
mities. It  was  nothing  that  he  had  f:jained  for 
Christendom  without  figliting  more  tlian  had  been 
won  since  the  First  Crusade.  For  he  had  dealt  with 
tlie  Sultan  of  Egypt  as  an  equal,  and  in  the  treaty 
whicli  gave  liim  Jerusalem  and  several  other  })laces 
lie  had  undertaken  to  enforce  certain  articles  favour- 
able to  the  Sultan,  even  in  the  event  of  opposition  from 
Christian  I*rinces.    Thus  it  is  not  astonishinir  that  while 


GURLF   AND    GHIBELLINE.     II  251 

Frederick  was  winning  this  success  in  Palestine  Pope 
Gregory  was  using  papal  emissaries,  in  the  shape  of 
the  lately  founded  Orders  of  mendicant  friars,  to 
denounce  the  Emperor  in  every  country  of  Western 
Europe,  and  even  let  loose  on  Frederick's  Sicilian 
territories  an  army  of  so-called  crusaders  under  John 
of  Brienne,  who  resented  the  adoption  of  the  title  of 
King  of  Jerusalem  by  his  imperial  son-in-law.  This 
monstrous  attack  upon  a  successful  crusader  turned 
the  sentiment  of  Europe  against  the  Pope.  Frederick 
returned  in  June,  1229,  and  by  the  help  of  his  Saracen 
troops  drove  out  the  invaders.  In  return  for  peace 
with  the  Church  Frederick  was  willing  to  give  to  the 
Pope  almost  extravagantly  generous  terms,  and  a 
treaty  was  arranged  at  San  Germane  in  August,  1230, 
by  which  Frederick  surrendered  his  claim  over  the 
Sicilian  clergy  and  obtained  in  return  tlie  removal  of 
the  excommunication,  which  carried  w4th  it  a  tacit 
recoc^nition  of  his  crusade. 

It  was  nine  years  before  the  struggle  was  openly 
renewed.    There  were  many  causes  of  difl^rence  in  the 
interval,  but  Pope  and  Emperor  found  two 
occasions  for  common  action.     In  the  first       ?^^^^ 
place   Gregory   imitated  the  policy  of   his  claims, 
great  relative  in  using  every  method  for 
extending  the  immediate  suzerainty  of  the  Pope  over 
the  towns  and  barons  within  the  Roman  duchy.     But    \ 
despite  Innocent's  civic  victory  the  Roman  Commune 
desired  to  place  themselves  on  a  level  with  the  other 
free  cities  of  Italy  such  as  Milan  and  Florence,  and 
claimed  jurisdiction    over  the  whole  district.     Twice 
already  had  the  Romans  expelled  Gregory  and  recalled 
him  before  thev  demanded  from  him,  in  1234,  the  sur- 


2S2        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 

render  of  sovereign  rights  within  the  duchy.  Gregory 
fled  and  appealed  for  lielp  to  Christendom ;  and 
Frederick  supi)lied  the  troops  which  restored  the  Pope 
for  tlie  third  time  and  forced  the  Itomans  to  withdraw 
their  claims. 

Pope  and  Emperor  also  pursued  a  common  policy 

against  heretics.     Tlie  Lateran  Council  of  1215  issued 

a  series  of  ordinances  against  heretics,  niak- 

re  eric       ^       ^^  ^^^q  tUity  of   the  secular   i)ower  to 
and  heresy.        '^  .  -^  .  ^  , 

punish  them  under  pain  of  excommuni- 
cation. lUit  each  country  and  even  each  city  issued 
its  own  regulations  for  giving  effect  to  the  injunctions 
of  the  Council.  Only  gradually  in  tlie  second  (juaiter 
of  the  century  was  the  old  episcopal  jurisdiction  over 
heresy  superseded  by  the  establishment  of  the  papal 
Inquisition.  Meanwhile,  in  1220  at  his  imperial 
coronation  Frederick  put  out  in  his  own  name  an  edict 
for  the  secular  suppression  of  heresy,  which  had  been 
dictated  to  him  from  liome.  In  1231  this  edict  was 
enforced  in  Home  itself  when  Gregory  IX  established 
the  Inquisition  there  and  made  it  the  business  of  the 
Senator,  the  head  of  the  civic  commune,  to  execute 
the  sentences  of  the  Inquisitor.  The  regulations  now 
drawn  up  for  the  conduct  of  the  secular  power  in  such 
cases,  were  sent  over  all  Europe  with  orders  for  their 
enforcement.  In  the  same  year  Frederick  renewed 
his  attack  upon  heretics  in  his  Sicilian  Constitutions, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  next  eight  years  he  issued  "a 
complete  and  pitiless  code  "  of  "  fiendish  legislation," 
placing  the  whole  of  the  machinery  of  state  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Inquisitor.  Put  Cirregory  was  not  deceived. 
Katlier  lie  complained  that  Frederick's  orthodoxy  took 
the  form  of  the  punishment  of  his  personal  enemies, 


GUELF   AND    GHIBELLINE.     II  253 


of  wlioin  many  were  good  Catholics.  Certainly 
Frederick's  anti-heretical  edicts  were  not  prompted  by 
religious  zeal.  He  was  more  detached  than  any 
ruler  of  the  Middle  Ages  from  the  current  ideas  of  the 
time.  He  seems  to  have  been,  if  it  is  possible,  utterly 
non-religious. 

Moreover,  his  regulations  against  heresy  were  part 
of  his  general  code  of  law  for  the  government  of  the 
diverse  races  in  his  kingdom  of  Sicily,  and 
in  this  code  issued  in  1231,  although  their  ^^'f^p^'^^^^^ 
temporalities  were  secured   to  the  clergy,  ^^^  popg^ 
as  a  class  they  were  subjected  to  taxation 
and  to  the  secular  jurisdiction  of   the  State.     Pope 
Gregory's  counter-blast  to  this  policy  is  contained  in 
his  addition  to  the  Canon  Law  known  as  his  Decretals 
(123-4).     By  these  the  clergy  were  declared  entirely 
exempt  from  secular  taxation  and  jurisdiction,  on  the 
ground  that  all  secular  law  was  subordinate  to  the  law 
of  the  Church,  and  that  the  duty  of  the  secular  power 
was  to  carry  out  the  commands  of  the  Church. 

Thus  each  side  was  maintaining  its  pretensions  until 
the  opportunity  should  come  for  asserting  them.     Thi;^ 
was  found  for  the  second  time  in  the  affairs    The 
of    Lombardy.      The   Lombard   cities   still    second 
feared  the  designs   of  Frederick.     In   1235    contest, 
they   renewed   their    League.     Again    the    Pope    was^ 
accepted  as  arbiter,  and  again  Frederick  complained 
with  justice  that  he  was  too  favourable  to  the  cities. 
In  1236  Frederick  declared  war  against  the  League. 
His    pretext  of  punishing  heresy  which   was   rife  in 
Lombardy,    deceived   no    one;    while    liis   declaration, 
when  Gregory  desired  him  to  turn  his  arms  to  Pales- 
tine, that  "  Italy  is  my  heritage,  and  this  the  whole 


254         THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPHU: 

world  knows,"  confirmed  the  worst  apprehensions  of 
the  Pope  and  the  Lombards.  Moreover,  Frederick's 
first  move  was  entirely  successful,  and  in  1237  he  com- 
pletely defeated  the  Lombards  in  battle  at  Corte  Nuova, 
took  the  Milanese  standard  and  sent  it  to  be  placed  in 
the  Capitol  at  Kome.  The  subjugation  of  the  Lom- 
bards would  mean  the  union  of  Italy  under  Frederick's 
rule,  while,  since  the  acquisition  of  Sicily  by  the 
Hohenstaufen,  the  Lombards  remained  the  only  allies 
of  the  Papacy  in  Italy.  Gregory  therefore  declared 
himself,  and  in  March,  1239,  he  excommunicated 
Frederick  and  released  his  subjects  from  their  alle- 
giance. Frederick  issued  a  manifesto  addressed  to  all 
Princes,  in  which  he  appealed  to  a  General  Council. 
Gregory's  counter-manifesto  was  couched  in  terms  of 
the  most  unrestrained  violence.  Frederick  was  de- 
scribed as  the  beast  in  the  Apocalypse  (Eev.  xiii.  1), 
which  had  upon  its  seven  heads  the  name  of  blas- 
phemy; and  he  is  charged  with  saying  that  the  world 
had  been  deceived  by  three  impostors,  Christ,  Moses 
and  Mohammed,  of  whom  two  had  died  in  glory, 
while  the  third  had  been  crucified. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  investigate  the  interesting 
question  of  the  truth  of  Gregory's  charges  against 
Frederick.  The  French  sent  a  mission  to  Frederick  to 
enquire  as  to  the  accusation  of  infidelity,  and  he  thanked 
them  warmly  and  denied  it.  The  Duke  of  Bavaria 
told  Gregory  in  1241  that  most  of  the  German  princes 
and  prelates  would  sliortly  go  to  Frederick's  aid.  In 
fact,  the  pai)al  exactions  had  caused  intense  disgust 
over  all  Western  Europe,  and  no  ]»rince  would  allow 
himself  to  be  set  up  as  a  rival  to  Frederick.  Yet  the 
papal  condemnation  caused  many  to  liuld  aloof  from 


GUELF   AND    GHIBELLINR.     II  255 


the  Emperor  who,  moreover,  did  not  venture  to  set  up 
an  antipope.  He  contented  liimself  witli  persecuting 
the  friars  who  were  the  most  active  emissaries  of 
Kome,  and  with  confiscating  the  estates  of  the  Church, 
until  it  was  said  at  the  papal  Court  that  he  had  sworn 
to  reduce  the  Pope  to  beggary  and  to  stable  his  horses 
in  St.  Peter's. 

Frederick  had  suggested  the  calling  of  a  council, 
and  Gregory  summoned  one  to  Eome.  But  Frederick 
had  begun  to  reduce  the  Eoman  duchy  and,  innocent 
anyhow,  he  did  not  want  a  council  which  IV 
would  merely  register  the  papal  decrees.  (^243-54)- 
So  when  a  number  of  bishops  ignored  his  prohibition 
and  met  at  Genoa  in  order  to  embark  for  Rome,  the 
fleets  of  Pisa  and  Sicily  met  them  off'  the  island  of 
Meloria  and  captured  nearly  the  whole  of  the  prospec- 
tive Council.  Frederick's  attack  upon  Eome  itself  was 
only  averted  by  the  death  of  Gregory  IX  on  August  21, 
1241.  The  new  Pope  died  seventeen  days  after  his 
election,  and  then,  for  some  reason,  the  Papacy  was 
vacant  for  two  years.  The  delay  was  attributed  to 
Frederick;  and  the  French  actually  declared  to  the 
Cardinals  that  if  a  new  Pope  were  not  chosen  quickly, 
the  French  nation,  in  accordance  with  an  ancient 
privilege  given  by  Pope  Clement  to  St.  Denys,  would 
set  up  a  Pope  of  their  own.  At  length,  in  June,  1243, 
Innocent  IV  was  chosen;  and  Frederick,  alluding  to 
previous  dealings  with  him,  remarked  that  by  tliis 
election  he  had  lost  a  friend  among  the  Cardinals,  since 
no  Pope  could  be  a  Ghibelline. 

The  truth  of  this  was  soon  apparent.  Innocent  de- 
manded the  restoration  of  all  Frederick's  conquests  in 
the  States  of  the  Church  in  return  for  peace;  and 


256         THi:   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 

alllioiicrh  notliiiiG^  was  said  about  the  time  of  the 
removal  of  the  excommunication,  Frederick  accepted 
tlie  terms.  But  when  Frederick  saw  that  tliere  was 
no  intention  of  absolving  him,  he  refused  to  surrender 
the  papal  cities  and  thereby  teclmically  broke  the 
treaty.  Innocent  intended  to  get  a  treaty  which 
would  carry  an  acknowledgment  of  the  Emperor's 
failure,  and  then  to  reduce  him  to  submission  by  a 
council  held  outside  Italy,  j^egotiations  continued 
until  Innocent  fled  to  Lyons,  a  practically  independent 
city.  France,  England  and  Aragon,  however,  declined 
to  receive  him,  and  Innocent  exclaimed  that  he  must 
come  to  terms  with  the  Emperor,  "  for  when  the  dragon 
has  been  crushed  or  pacified,  the  little  serpents  will  be 
quickly  trodden  underfoot." 

At  Lvons  there  met  in  1245  the  General  Council  to 
whicli  Frederick  had  appealed,  and  which  is  reckoned 

by  the  Eomans  as  the  thirteenth  of  tlie 
First  CEcumenical  Assemblies   of    the    Cliurch  ; 

Lyons  ^"^^     archbishops     and    bishops,     besides 

numerous  lesser  clergy,  were  present. 
Frederick  was  represented  by  a  celebrated  jurist, 
Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  who  pleaded  the  Emperor's  cause. 
Several  points  were  proposed  for  settlement ;  but  all 
other  matters  were  brushed  aside,  and  Innocent  liurried 
on  the  tliird  and  last  session  of  the  Council  in  which 
Frederick  was  declared  deposed,  his  subjects  were  re- 
leased from  their  allegiance,  the  German  princes  told  to 
elect  another  King,  and  Sicily  kept  for  disposal  by  the 
Pope  in  consultation  willi  tlie  Cardinals.  All  remon- 
strances were  unavailing ;  even  Louis  IX  (juite  failed  to 
move  the  Pope.  Frederick  realised  that  it  was  a  figlit  to 
a  finish,  and  in  a  protest  lie  called  upon  tlie  other  princes 


GUKLF   AND    GHIBRLLINR.     II 


257 


of  tlie  West  to  help  him  in  depriving  the  clergy  of  the 

wealtli  which  liad  choked   their  spiritual  power.     lUit 

this  was  interpreted  as  a  design  for  the  destruction  of 

the  Church,  and  despite  the  testimonies  to  Frederick's 

orthodoxy  published  by  the  Archbishop  of  Palermo, 

the  papal  charge  of  heresy  against   him  gained  wide 

belief.      Innocent  in  his  reply  asserted  among  other 

tilings  that  the  Pope  was  the  Legate  of  Christ  who  had    \ 

entrusted   him  with  full  powers  to   act   as  judge  over 

the  earth,  and  that  the  Emperor  should  take  an  oath 

of  subjection  to  the  Pope  who,  as  overlord,  gave  him 

his  title  and  crown.     Thus  the  claims  now  made  on 

behalf  of  the  Papacy  left  no  room  for  a  belief  in  the 

balance  of  spiritual  and  secular  authority. 

Both   sides    resorted   to   every  kind    of    expedient. 

Frederick,    aiming   especially   at    tlie    friars,   ordered 

that  any  who  spread  or  even  received  the 

papal  letters  of    condemnation  as^ainst  him    5^^^"  °^ 

Frederick 
should    be    burnt !     Innocent   declared  an 

actual  crusade  against  Frederick,  stirred  up  revolt  in 

Sicily,  and  at  length  succeeded  in  raising  a  rival  King 

in  Germany.     Henry  Easpe,  Landgrave  of  Thuringia, 

owed   his  election   (1246)  almost   exclusively   to  the 

great  prelates  of  the  Ehine ;  but  he  died    the  next 

year  and,  although   another  King   was   put   forward 

in  the  person  of  William  Count  of  Holland,  a  young 

man    of    twenty,   he   made   no   progress   so    long   as 

Frederick  lived.      Moreover,  in  Italy  Frederick's  cause 

was  gaining  ground,  until  the  revolt  of  Parma  and  the 

failure  of  his  efforts  to  retake  it  ended  in  the  complete 

rout  of  his  forces  (1248).     In  1250  Frederick  himself 

died  directing  by  his  will  that  all  the  rights  of  the 

Church  should  be  restored  in  so  far  as  they  did  not 

s 


258        THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE 

conflict  with  the  claims  of  the  Empire,  provided  that 
the  Church  herself  should  recognise  the  imperial 
rights.  Almost  to  the  last  Frederick  had  been  quite 
willing  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Church,  and  he  died 
unsubdued.  But  the  Papacy  was  fighting  for  that 
supremacy  which  experience  had  shown  to  be  the 
condition  of  its  existence.  Not  that  any  Emperor 
ever  cherished  the  thought  of  destroying  the  Papacy 
any  more  than  the  Pope  dreamed  of  annihilating  the 
Empire.  Alany  passages  have  been  cited  to  prove  that 
Frederick  contemplated  the  establisliment  of  a  Church 
of  his  own  in  Sicily.  Here  perhaps  he  did  not  aim  at 
anything  more  than  Henry  VIII  afterwards  accom- 
plished in  England  or  the  barons  under  Louis  IX,  as  we 
have  seen,  threatened  on  one  occasion  in  France.  The 
language  used  by  his  followers  was  extravagant,  even 
blasphemous,  and  he  did  not  discourage  it.  How  far  he 
ever  aimed  as  setting  himself  up  as  Pope  is  more 
doubtful.  But  in  any  case,  and  however  much  we  may 
be  inclined  to  sympathise  with  him,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  there  was  abundant  reason  for  the  hostility  of  the 
Pope. 

And  the  reasons  which  caused  the  Papacy  to  hound 

Frederick  to  death,  also  determined  it  not  to  rest  until 

it  had   exterminated    the    whole    "  viper's 

^^?f' ^       brood."     Innocent  IV  expressed  the  most 
candidate       .  ^ 

for  Sicily,  indecent  joy  at  Frederick's  death,  and  re- 
fused all  offers  of  peace  from  his  son  and 
successor,  Conrad  IV.  ]>ut  being  too  weak  to  wrest 
Sicily  from  the  Hohenstaufen  he  sought  for  some  prince 
wlio  would  accept  it  as  a  papal  fief.  It  was  refused  on 
behalf  of  Louis  IX's  brother,  Cliarles  of  Anjou,  and 
also  by  Henry  Ill's  brother,  Pvichard  Earl  of  Cornwall, 


GUELF   AND   GHIBELLINK.     II  259 


who  said  tliat  tlie  Pope  might  as  well  offer  liini  the 
moon.  Henry  III,  however,  accepted  it  for  his  second 
son  Edmnnd,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  a  boy  of  eight, 
promising  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  conquest.  The 
Pope's  action  was  utterly  unscrupulous.  In  May, 
1254,  Conrad  died  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age, 
and  the  only  legitimate  Hohenstaufen  representative 
who  remained,  was  his  son,  distinguished  as  Conradin, 
who  was  under  the  guardianship  of  Berthold  Marquis 
of  Hohenburg.  Conrad's  liegent  in  Italy  had  been  his 
half-brother  Manfred,  the  son  of  Frederick  by  an 
Italian  lady,  and  the  most  brilliant  of  all  Frederick's 
children.  Berthold,  alarmed  at  the  difficulties,  made 
way  for  Manfred,  who  found  Innocent  ready  to  come 
to  terms.  To  Manfred  was  confirmed  the  principality 
of  Tarento  originally  the  gift  of  his  father,  and  he  was 
recognised  as  Papal  Vicar  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
Sicilian  kingdom.  But  the  grant  of  Sicily  was  con- 
firmed to  Edmund  of  Lancaster,  and  the  Pope  deter- 
mined to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom  in  person. 
Manfred,  now  a  vassal  of  the  Church,  held  the  bridle 
of  the  Pope's  horse  as  he  entered  his  new  dominions. 
But  Manfred  soon  found  that  the  Pope's  object  was  to 
reduce  him  to  harmlessness  and  then  to  get  rid  of  him. 
He  therefore  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  and  defeated 
the  papal  forces  (December,  1254). 

At  this  juncture  Innocent  IV  died  at  Naples. 
Matthew  Paris  relates  the  dream  of  a  Cardinal  who 
saw  the  Church  accusing  the  Pope  before  the  throne  of 
God  because  he  had  enslaved  the  Church,  had  made 
her  a  table  of  money-changers  and  had  shaken  faith, 
abolished  justice,  and  obscured  truth.  However  neces- 
sary to  the  independence  of  the  Papacy  was  this  stren- 


26o         THE  CHURCH    AND    THE   EMPIRE 

nous  struggle,  the  utterly  unscrupulous  means  employed 
and  the  almost  complete  identification  of  its  spiritual 
power  with  its  temporal  interests  is  impossible  to 
justify  or  even  to  excuse.  The  new  l*ope, 
Alexander     Alexander   IV,  a  nephew  of  Gregory   IX, 

IV  (1254-  O      J  ' 

gjx  without  Innocent's  ability  tried  to  follow 

the  policy  of  his  predecessor.  In  1255  he 
ratified  the  grant  of  Sicily  to  the  young  English 
prince  on  severe  conditions.  Indeed,  he  surpassed 
his  predecessors  in  the  demands  made  on  Henry  III 
and  the  English  Church ;  until  in  1258  his  claim  for 
the  repayment  of  the  money  which  he  alleged  to  have 
been  expended  in  the  prosecution  of  Edmund's  cause, 
brouc{ht  on  a  grave  constitutional  crisis  in  Eno;land 
and  reduced  Henry  III  to  impotence. 

Meanwhile  Manfred  had  regained  all  the  dominions 
of  the  Sicilian  crown  in  the  name  of  Conradin,  but  in 
1258  he  quietly  set  aside  his  nephew  and 
M  f  d  accepted  the  throne  for  himself.  However 
necessary  such  a  step  might  be,  it  divided 
Sicily  from  Germany.  This  was  what  the  papal  party 
desired  :  but  Manfred,  the  son  of  an  Italian  mother, 
aimed,  like  his  father,  at  an  Italian  monarchy.  Con- 
sequently Alexander  declared  against  him.  In  Italy, 
however,  the  cessation  of  supplies  from  England  left 
Alexander  almost  powerless,  and  Manfred  was  accepted 
as  the  head  of  tlie  Ghibellines  in  the  peninsula. 

But  before  his  death  in  May,  12G1,  Alexander  had 
^,  .  .  gained  a  distinct  success  in  Germany.  The 
Kings  of  yo^^^^g  l^i^"io»  William  of  Holland,  the 
the  destined  Emperor,  had  been  killed  in  1256. 

Romans.  rpj^g  Pope  forbade  the  choice  of  Conradin, 
and  the  votes  of  the  German  princes  were  divided  be- 


GUELF   AND   GHIBELLINE.     It  261 


tweeii  the  Eni<;lisliman,  Eichard  Earl  of  Cornwall,  and 
Alfonso  the AYise,  King  of  Castile  and  grandson  of  Thilip 
of  Suabia.  Eicliard,  wealthy  and  attracted  by  the  im- 
perial title,  was  crowned  Emperor  at  Aachen  in  1257 
and  bought  himself  a  measure  of  support  so  long  as  he 
remained  in  Germany.  Alfonso,  on  the  other  hand, 
did  nothing  to  secure  his  new  dominions.  Alexander 
and  his  successors,  by  professing  a  judicial  attitude, 
gradually  established  the  impression  in  Germany  that 
the  decision  in  these  matters  rested  with  the  Papacy. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   FALL   OF   THE   EMPHIE 
AND   OF    THE    PAPACY 

11  HE  date  of  Alexander's  deatli  marks  the  beginning 
-    of  a  new  episode  in  the  history  of  the  mediaeval 
Papacy.     His  successor,  Urban  IV,  was  a 
(1261-4)        Frenchman.     With  more  vigour  than   his 
predecessor  he    pursued  the  policy  of  thei 
destruction  of  the  Hohenstaufen,     Since  the  Endish 

o 

prince  had  proved  a  useless  tool  and  no  more  money 
could  be  wrung  from  the  English  people,  lie  obtained 
the  renunciation  of  the  claims  of  Edmund  to  the 
Sicilian  crown  and  turned  to  his  native  country  for 
a  candidate.  Louis  IX  refused  the  offer  for  a  son,  but 
it  was  accepted  by  his  brother,  Charles  of  Anjou, 
whose  wife,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Eaymond 
Berengar  of  Provence,  desired  to  be  the  equal  of  her 
tliree  elder  sisters,  the  Queens,  respectively,  of  France, 
England,  and  Germany.  For  the  next  twenty  years 
the  papal  policy  centres  round  the  doings  of  Charles  as 
much  as  it  had  centred  for  thirty  years  round  the  aims 
of  Frederick  II.  The  Guelf  party  in  Pome  liad 
already  elected  Cliarles  as  senator,  or  liead  of  the  civic 
connuune,  in  opposition  to  the  Ghibelline  Manfred. 
Thus  the  Pope  and  the  Italian  Guelf s  once  more  com- 
ibined  to  betray  Italy  to  the  foreign  conqueror.  Urban 
was  able   to  obtain  a  promise  that  Charles  would  not 

262 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPH^  AND  PAPACY      263 

accept  the  senatorship  for  life,  although  the  need  for 
Charles'  presence  in  Italy  as  a  check  upon  the  vic- 
torious Manfred  enabled  the  new  King  to  obtain  better 
terms  in  regard  to  Sicily  than  the  Pope  had  oilered  at 
first. 

Fortune  favoured  Charles  from  the  outset.  Before  he 
could  reach  Italy  Urban  had  died  in  Perugia  (October, 
1264),  having  never  entered  Eome  during  his 

pontificate.     His  successor,  Clement  IV,  a  ,  ^i"^" 

.  (1265-8). 

Provencal  and  therefore  a  subject  of  Charles, 

had  beenoverpersuaded  to  accept  the  tiara, and  naturally 
continued  his  predecessor's  work.  Charles  arrived  by 
sea,  was  welcomed  in  Eome  where  he  assumed  the 
office  of  senator,  and  was  invested  with  the  crown  of 
Sicily  (June,  1265).  But  from  the  very  first  he  showed 
the  arbitrariness  and  violence  which  were  to  charac- 
terise his  relations  with  Italy.  He  came  destitute  of 
money ;  he  took  possession  of  the  Lateran  palace  until 
the  Pope's  remonstrances  forced  him  to  withdraw. 
His  army  marched  through  Italy  to  join  him,  plunder- 
ing as  it  came.  The  Pope  was  helpless ;  he  had  not 
yet  even  ventured  to  come  to  Pome.  Charles  and  his 
wife  were  crowned  King  and  Queen  of  Sicily  by 
a  commission  of  Cardinals ;  and  theirs  was  the  first 
coronation  of  any  sovereign  other  than  an  Emperor, 
which  had  taken  place  in  St.  Peter's. 

Meanwhile  Manfred  was  doing  everything  to  meet 
the  new  attack.  But  there  was  no  patriotism  among 
the  Italians  of  the  south.  Frederick  II  in  End  of  the 
founding  his  strong  monarchy  had  alienated  Hohen- 
the  nobles  and  the  cities ;  the  clergy,  of  staufen. 
course,  were  his  bitter  foes.  All  seemed  to  think  that 
Charles'  advent  would  bring  freedom  and  peace.    They 


264         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

were  soon  to  be  disabused.  On  Charles'  march  south- 
wards Manfred,  relying  solely  on  Germans  and  Sara- 
cens, met  him  at  Benevento,  but  was  beaten  and  fell 
in  the  fight  (February  2G,  1266).  Charles  entered 
Naples  and  the  papal  aims  seemed  attained.  Charles 
was  their  vassal  for  Sicily,  and  was  now  obliged  to  lay 
down  his  office  of  senator.  The  German  influence  in 
Italy  was  destroyed;  the  "German"  Empire  was  sl  \ 
thing  of  the  past.  But  the  Eomans  still  kept  the  Pope 
at  arms'  length.  In  1252  they  had  for  the  first  time 
introduced  a  foreign  senator  in  the  Bolognese  Bran- 
caleone  who,  before  his  death  in  1258,  w^as  twice  over- 
thrown and  restored  to  power.  Thus  the  election  of 
Charles  was  no  new  departure.  And  as  his  successor 
was  chosen  Henry,  brother  of  Alfonso  the  Wise  of 
Castile,  titular  King  of  the  Ptomans.  He  maintained 
the  interests  of  the  commune  against  the  Pope,  and 
then,  from  hatred  to  Charles,  the  Gliibelline  cause 
against  the  papal  party.  The  Ghibellines  found  a 
rallying  ground  in  Tuscany,  and  sent  to  Germany  for 
Conradin.  The  boy,  now  fourteen  years  of  age,  was 
welcomed  by  the  senator  in  Eome ;  but  his  forces  were 
utterly  defeated  by  Charles  at  Tagliacozzo  on  August 
23,  1268.  Conradin  fled,  but  was  captured  and  exe- 
cuted. 

This  time  it  was  Charles,  and  not  the  Pope,  whose 
success  was  the  obvious  fact.    Wliether  tlie  Pope  inter- 
ceded for  the  last  of  the  Ilohenstaufens  or 
Schemes  ,  ,  .  . .        .  ^  .  „ 

of  Charles     approved  his  execution,  is  a  matter  or  some 

doubt.     But  Charles  was  now  elected  sena- 
tor of  Rome  for  life,  and  Clement  offered  no  opposition  to  \ 
this  violation  of  the  original  agreement.    Moreover,  on  I 
Clement's    death    (November,    1268),    the    divisions 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY      265 


among  tlio  Cardinals  assembled  at  Viterbo  prolonged 
the  vacancy  in  the  papal  chair  for  nearly  three  years. 
During  that  time  Charles  developed  the  most  ambitious 
schemes.  With  the  Ghibelline  position  he  took  up  the 
Ghibelline  aims.  Thus  the  papal  plans  for  reviving 
the  Crusades  were  nothing  to  him,  but  he  desired  to 
obtain  for  himself  the  crown  of  Jerusalem ;  and  since 
Constantinople  had  been  recovered  by  the  Greeks  in 
1261,  while  on  the  one  side  he  make  a  treaty  with  the 
Latin  ex-Emperor,  Baldwin  II,  whereby  the  reversion 
of  the  Byzantine  throne  should  go  to  the  King  of 
Sicily,  on  the  other  side  the  papal  project  for  an  union 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  was  an  obstacle  to 
his  hostile  design.  Charles,  in  fact,  began  to  equip  an 
expedition  against  Constantinople.  Louis  IX  for  the 
moment  checked  his  brother's  schemes  and  took  him 
off  on  the  crusade  from  which  Louis  himself  was  not 
to  return.  The  diversion  of  the  expedition  from 
Palestine  or  Egypt  to  Tunis  is  generally  attributed  to 
the  influence  of  the  King  of  Sicily,  whose  Norman 
predecessors  had  once  held  the  north  coast  of  Africa : 
but  this  charge  can  scarcely  be  maintained,  for  the 
crusade  thither  interfered  with  his  schemes  against 
Constantinople,  which  were  resumed  immediately  on 
his  return  to  Europe. 

But  again   Charles  was  destined  to   meet   with   a 
serious  check.     When  at  length  the  Church  obtained 
a  new  Pope  it  was  no  servile  henchman  of 
Charles  who  was  elected.      Gregory  X,   a    (12-72-6). 
Visconti  of     Piacenza,    had  spent    his  life 
outside  Italy,  and  was  with  Edward  I  of  England  in 
Palestine  when  he  was  chosen.     He  was  the  first  Pope 
since  Honorius  III,  who  set  before  himself  the  pro- 


I 


266        THE    CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

0 

motion  of  a  crusade  as  liis  primary  object.  As  an 
indispensable  prerequisite  of  this  lie  desired  to  pro- 
mote the  union  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Cliurches.  It 
was  these  unselfish  objects  of  his  which  enabled  him 
to  check  both  Charles'  power  and  his  schemes.  There 
was  a  still  further  point.  The  fall  of  the  Hohenstau- 
fen  had  destroyed  the  imperial  house,  and  had  left 
the  Papacy  not  only  isolated  but  face  to  face  with  one 
who  was  proving  himself  "  a  burdensome  protector." 
The  equilibrium  of  Europe  had  been  seriously  shaken. 
Tlie  election  of  two  rival  Kino-s  of  the  liomans  had 
not  helped  to  restore  it.  But  now  Eichard  of  Corn- 
wall, who  had  tried  to  assert  his  position,  was  dead, 
and  Gregory  refused  to  recognise  the  claims  of  Alfonso 
of  Castile.  But  Louis  IX  was  dead  also,  and  Charles 
would  be  likely  to  influence  his  nephew  the  new  King 
of  France  more  than  he  had  ever  influenced  his  high- 
souled  brother.  It  was  necessary  to  find  a  new  King 
of  the  Komans  who  might  be  a  counterpoise  in  Europe, 
and  perhaps  even  in  Italy,  to  Charles.  Thus 
encouraged  and  almost  coerced  by  the  Pope,  the 
German  princes  elected  Eudolf  Count  of  Hapsburg 
(September  1273),  a  man  of  "popular  qualities"  who 
was  not  too  powerful. 

The  success  of  the  papal  policy  was  to  be  advertised 
to  Europe  in  a  second  Council  of  Lyons  (May-July, 

1274).  This  was  attended  by  five  hundred 
Second  bishops  and  innumerable  otlier  clergy.  An 
of  Lyons       opportunity  was  taken  to  issue  a  canon,  the 

object  of  wliicli  was  to  prevent  the  recur- 
rence of  the  long  vacancy  in  tlie  papal  see  which  had 
preceded  Gregory's  election.  It  was  decreed  that  ten 
days  after  the  death  of  the  Pope  the  Cardinals  should 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY      267 

meet   and   should  be  confined  in  one  conclave  until  j 

a  choice  had  been  made.     All  intercourse  with  the  out- 

'  side  world  was  forbidden  ;  the  food  was  to  be  supplied 

througli  a  window,  the  amount  of  it  being  diminished 

after  three  days ;  while  a  further  diminution  was  to 

take  place  five  days  later.     The  duty  of  supervision 

was  entrusted  to  the  magistrates  of  the  city  in  which 

the  election   might  be  held.     Despite    the   stringent 

resistance  of  the  Cardinals  the  canon  was  passed  with 

the  aid  of    the  bishops;  and  although  it   was    more 

than  once  suspended,  it  has  continued  to  direct  the 

procedure  at  papal  elections  to  the  present  day. 

But  the  real  object  of  the  meeting  of  the  Council 

was  that  it  should  witness  the  reconciliation  of  the 

Eastern  Church  with  the  Western.     More    ,1  •       r 

Union  01 

than  two  centuries  earlier  (1054)  the  long    Eastern 
jealousy  of  Eome  and  Constantinople  had    and 
ended     in     the     rupture     of     communion    J?f^^^t^" 
between     the     Christians    of     West    and 
East ;    and    the    Crusades    and    the    Latin    Empire 
of    Constantinople  had   prevented   any   real   attempt 
at    re-union.       But     just    now    circumstances    w^ere 
favourable.       Michael     Pakeologus,     who     had     re- 
conquered Constantinople  for   the  Greeks  and   made 
himself    Emperor,   was  in    difficulties  at  home  with 
a    section    of    the    clergy,    and,    threatened    by    the 
designs   of    Charles  of    Sicily,  he  coerced  the  Greek 
clergy  into  accepting    the   union   with   the   Western/ 
Church,  which  gave   the  only  chance  of  such  help  as 
would  hold  Charles  in  check.     An  embassy  of  Greeks 
appeared  at  Lyons  ;   and  although  Bonaventura  and 
Thomas  Aquinas  were  present  to  argue  the  case  for  the 
Western    Church,    no    persuasion    was   needed.      The 


268         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

Greeks  expressed  a  readiness  to  accept  the  primacy  of ) 
Eome,  the  doctrine  that  the  Holy  Gliost  proceeded/ 
from  both  Father  and  Son  (whereas  they  had  main- 
tained His  procession  from  tlie  Father  alone),  and  all 
the  customs  of  the  Western  Church.  It  seemed  as  if 
at  length  a  crusade  were  really  possible.  The  chief 
sovereigns  of  Europe  had  taken  the  cross,  and  Gregory 
had  even  persuaded  Charles  of  Sicily  and  the  Greek 
Emperor  to  sign  a  truce. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  Gregory's  death  (January  10, 
1276)  undid  all  his  work.  Charles  of  Sicily  alone 
rejoiced  at  the  vacancy,  and  made  desperate  efforts  to 
secure  the  nomination  to  the  Papacy  again.  But  two 
nominees  died  in  quick  succession ;  and  when  on  the 
death  of   John   XXI   after   a   similarly   short   reign, 

Charles  again  interfered,  he  was  met  by 
0?277°8ol^"  the  election  of  Nicholas  III  of  the  family 

of  Orsini,  who  returned  to  Eome  and  spent 
the  three  years  of  his  pontificate  in  neutralising 
Charles'  power.  For  this  purpose  he  used  the  new 
King  of  the  Eomans.  Charles  was  forced  to  resign 
the  vicariate  of  Tuscany,  which  was  made  over  to 
Eudolf.  Charles  also  resigned  the  senatorship  of 
Eome  which  he  had  lield  for  ten  years.  To  this 
Nicholas  got  himself  elected,  and  issued  a  decree  by 
which  he  hoped  to  make  it  impossible  for  any  foreign 
prince  to  be  elected,  or  for  anyone  to  hold  the  post  for 
more  than  a  year  witliout  the  papal  favour. 

But  Nicholas  was  only  able  to  give  a  German  prince 
Revival  oucQ  more  a  footing  in  Italy  because  Eudolf 
of  the  liad  been   effectually  barred  from  reviving 

Empire.        ^^le  Hohenstaufen  claims.     Already  at  the 
Council  of  Lyons  the  envoys  of  Eudolf  had  appeared 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY      269 


and  in  his  name  had  taken  the  oaths  previously  exacted 
from  Otto  IV  and  Frederick  11.  Kudolf  liad  subse- 
quently met  Pope  Gregory  at  Lausanne  in  1275,  and 
had  confirmed  the  act  of  his  representatives.  Thus 
Gregory  obtained  from  a  crowned  German  King  an 
acknowledgment  of  all  the  claims  advanced  by  the 
Papacy  since  the  days  of  Charles  the  Great.  Ptudolf 
was  too  busy  ever  to  visit  Pome ;  but  in  negotiations 
with  regard  to  his  coronation  as  Emperor,  Nicholas  III 
exacted  the  confirmation  of  all  that  was  promised  to 
Gregory,  and  this  included  especially  the  lands  of  the 
old  Exarchate  and  the  district  of  Pentapolis,  which 
had  never  yet  been  actually  in  the  hands  of  papal 
officers. 

Dante   has    banned    the    memory   of    Nicholas    as 
the  simoniacal  Pope.     He  certainly  used  his  enormous 
patronage     to     enrich     his     own     family.    ..-    ,.    jy 
But  his  death  (August,  1280)  nearly  proved    /j28i-s). 
fatal    to     the     freedom     of     Europe ;     for 
Charles  at  length  obtained  his  own  nominee  to  the   /i 
Papacy  in  the  person  of  a  Frenchman,   Martin  IV,    I 
who  proceeded  to  hand  over  to  the  King  for  life  the 
Eoman  ^enatorship   conferred   upon  the    Pope.      All 
the  work  of  the  preceding  Popes  was  undone.     The 
temporary  union  of  the  Churches  was  dissolved  by  the 
excommunication  of  the  Greek  Emperor  on  the  pre- 
text that  he  had  not   carried  out  his  promises;  and 
Charles,  who  had   obtained   a  footing   in   the  Greek 
peninsula  and  made  a  league  with  Venice,  prepared 
to   start   on    his    expedition   against    Constantinople. 
There  seemed  every  prospect  of  his  success. 

But   Charles'    brutality  had  been  imitated  by   his 
French  officials  ;  and  the  rising  known  as  the  "  Sicilian 


270         THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPH^E 

Vespers"  in   March,    1282,   cleared   the   French   out 

of  Sicily  and  finally  overthrew  all  Cliarles' 

ici  lan         plans.      The  fleet  prepared  for  Constanti- 
Vespers.        ^  ^      ^ 

nople  had  to  be  turned  against  the  rebel 

islanders.  The  Pope,  thinking  to  play  the  game 
of  his  royal  master,  refused  to  mediate ;  the  Sicilians 
thereupon  declared  that  from  St.  Peter  they  would 
turn  for  aid  to  another  Peter,  and  offered  the  crown  to 
Peter,  King  of  Aragon,  the  husband  of  Manfred's 
daughter,  Constance,  who  for  some  years  had  wel- 
comed Sicilian  refuc'ees   at  liis  court   and   had  been 

o 

ready  for  the  summons.  The  Pope  deprived  Peter  of 
his  hereditary  dominions  and  bestowed  them  on 
Charles'  great  nephew  Charles  of  Yalois,  a  son  of 
Philip  III  of  France ;  but  the  Aragonese  fleet  under 
Itoger  di  Loria  defeated  Charles'  fleet  and  captured  his 
son  and  heir  Charles  the  Lame.  On  January  7,  1285, 
Charles  liimself  died,  and  was  follow^ed  to  the  grave 
very  shortly  by  Pope  Martin  IV.  The  same  year 
saw  also  the  death  of  Pliilip  III  of  France  and  of 
Peter  of  Aragon.  Pope  Honorius  IV  followed  the 
Nicholas  policy  of  his  predecessor,  and  to  him  suc- 
IV  ceeded  Nicholas   IV.      It   was   during   liis 

(1288-92).      pontificate    that    the     Latin    kingdom    of 
Jerusalem,  the  result  of  the  First  Crusade,  was  finally  j 
wiped  out  by   the  capture    of   Acre  (1291),  and  the 
little  stir  made  by  this  event  affords  a  measure  of  the 
decay  of  the  crusading  spirit. 

On  the  death   of  Nicholas  the  division  amonsj  the 

Cardinals  reflectim^   the    jealousies  of  tlie 
(1204)  Iioman    lamiiies    or    Orsnii    and    Colonna, 

caused  a  vacancy  in  tlie  papal  office  for  more 
than    two   years.     Then    by  a    sudden    whim,    wliich 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY      271 

in  the  event  of  a  successful  result  would  have  been 
called  an  inspiration,  tlie  name  of  a  liermit,  Peter, 
vi^hose  austerities  in  his  cell  on  Monte  Murrone  in  the 
Abruzzi  had  won  liim  great  reverence,  was  suggested 
apparently  in  all  sincerity  to  the  wearied  and  per- 
plexed Cardinals.  He  was  elected  and  took  the  title 
of  Celestine  V.  In  accorJance  with  the  desire  of 
Charles  II  of  Naples,  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Naples. 
But  he  was  utterly  unfit  for  his  high  office,  and  after 
a  pontificate  of  less  than  four  months  (August  to 
December,  1294)  he  resigned,  thus  perpetrating  that 
"  great  refusal "  which  won  Dante's  immortal  phrase 
of  scorn.  How  far  his  act  was  due  to  the  machina- 
tions of  Cardinal  Gaetani  is  uncertain.  At  any  rate 
Gaetani  had  evidently  obtained  Charles'  sanction  be- 
forehand to  his  own  elevation,  which  took  place  ten 
days  later.  But  the  new  Pope  did  not  intend  that  any- 
one should  be  his  master.  For  the  moment  he  and 
Charles  needed  each  other,  and  it  was  agreed  between 
them  that  Sicily  should  be  recovered  for  Charles,  while 
Celestine  should  be  given  into  the  keeping  of  his 
successor  lest  he  sliould  become  a  centre  for  disaffection. 
Boniface  VIII — such  was  the  name  of  the  new 
Pope — returned  to  Eome  escorted  by  Charles  II  and 
his  son,  Charles  Martel  of  Hungary ;  and  Boniface 
his  coronation  surpassed  that  of  all  previous  VIII 
Popes  in  magnificence.  The  late  Pope  was  (^294-1303). 
soon  secured  and  placed  in  a  tower  on  the  top  of  a 
mountain,  where  he  died  in  1296.  It  was  not  so  easv 
for  Boniface  to  fulfil  his  part  of  the  compact  with 
regard  to  Sicily.  James,  the  son  of  Peter  of  Aragon, 
agreed  to  surrender  Sicily  on  the  understanding  that 
the  new  Pope  would  withdraw  the  award  of  Aragon 


272         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

made  Ity  Martin  IV  to  a  Frencli  ]>riiice,  and  confirm  it 

^.  .,  to  liim.     But  the  Sicilians  refused  to  return 

Sicily. 

to  tlieir  French  ruler  and  found  a  champion 
in  James*  younger  brother  Frederick,  who  was  their 
Governor.  He  was  crowned  King  of  Sicily  at 
Palermo  in  1296.  Charles  II  was  too  feeble  to  make 
any  real  headway  against  Frederick,  and  even  the 
title  of  Standard-bearer  of  the  Church  conferred  by 
the  Pope  on  James  of  Aragon,  did  not  keep  Frederick's 
brother  permanently  on  the  papal  side.  In  1301 
Boniface  fell  back  upon  the  French  prince  Charles  of 
Valois,  to  whom  Pope  Martin  had  given  Aragon,  and 
sent  for  him  to  attack  "  the  new  ]\Ianfred  "  in  Sicily. 
Charles  having  first  failed  in  an  attempt  to  appease 
the  Florentine  factions,  passed  on  to  the  south,  and 
here  Frederick  ultimately  forced  him  to  peace  and 
a  recognition  of  his  title  as  King  of  Sicily  (1302). 
At  first  Boniface  would  not  ratify  a  peace  from  which 
all  reference  to  Pope  or  Church  had  been  omitted; 
but  in  1303  circumstances  caused  him  to  accept  it, 
though  he  exacted  as  a  condition  that  Frederick  should 
acknowledge  himself  a  papal  vassal.  Frederick,  how- 
ever, never  paid  any  tribute. 

Boniface  held  views  of  the  papal  power  of  the  most 
exalted  kind.     It  was  in  accordance  with  these  that 

he  once  more  made  Rome  the  headquarters 
Quarrel  ^f  ^j-jg  Papacy.  But  he  soon  found  himself 
Colonnas      involved  in  a  quarrel  wliich,  purely  local  in 

origin,  assumed  an  European  importance. 
The  family  of  Colonna  by  favour  of  Pope  Nicholas  IV 
had  become  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  Rome  and  the 
neighl)ourhood.  The  centre  of  the  family  property 
was  the  city  of  Palestrina.     Cardinal  Jacopo  Colonna, 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND   PAPACY      273 

who  as  the  eldest  brother  administered  it,  did  not  dis- 
tribute it  fairly  to  his  brothers,  but  rather  favoured 
his  nephews,  the  sons  of  his  dead  brother  John  wlio 
had  been  Senator  of  Ptonie.  One  of  these  was  tlie 
Cardinal  Peter.  Uncle  and  nephew  were  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  Eoman  Curia,  and  as  Eoman 
nobles  they  resented  Boniface's  design  of  humbling 
the  Eoman  aristocracy.  They  refused  the  papal 
admonitions  to  deal  justly  with  the  other  members  of 
the  family ;  they  withdrew  from  the  papal  Court,  and 
having  already  turned  from  G-hibelline  to  Guelf,  they 
once  more  became  Ghibelline  and  made  an  alliance 
with  Frederick  of  Sicily.  They  published  a  manifesto 
in  which  they  refused  to  recognise  Boniface  on  the 
ground  that  Pope  Celestine's  abdication  had  been 
unlawful.  But  Celestine  was  dead  and  the  Colonnas  had 
voted  for  his  successor.  Boniface  deposed  the  Cardinals 
and  excommunicated  them,  even  declaring  a  crusade 
against  them!  The  struggle  centred  round  Palestrina, 
and  it  is  said  that  the  Pope  fetched  from  a  Franciscan 
cloister  a  once  famous  Ghibelline  general,  Guy  of 
Montefeltro,  by  whose  advice  he  decoyed  the  Colonnas 
out  of  their  fortress  by  promises  which  he  did  not 
intend  to  keep.  Palestrina  was  levelled  to  the  ground 
and  the  Colonnas  fled  (1298),  finding  refuge  among 
the  enemies  of  Boniface  and  preparing  the  way  for  the 
final  catastrophe. 

Boniface,  however,  had  become  his  own  master  at 
home  to  an  extent  attained  by  none  of  his  predecessors 
since  Innocent  III.    His  reign  reached  what 
may  be  termed  its  high-water  mark  in  the      ^^^ 
Papal  Jubilee  of    1300.     The  cessation  of 
the   Crusades   had   largely   increased   the   crowds   of 

T 


I 


274        THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE 

pilgrims  to  Piome,  until  in  1299  there  awoke  an 
expectation  of  special  spiritual  privileges  in  connection 
with  the  end  of  the  century.  Indulgences  had  been  so 
freely  scattered  in  attempts  to  promote  the  Crusades 
tliat  a  craving  for  tliem  had  been  created.  Boniface 
recognised  the  importance  of  exploiting  the  popular 
feeling,  and  after  a  mock  enquiry  lie  issued  a  bull 
promising  generous  indulgences  to  all  who  should  visit 
the  Churches  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  during  the  year 
for  so  many  successive  days,  and  directing  that  a 
similar  pilgrimage  should  be  proclaimed  every  hun- 
dredth year.  Pilgrims  flocked  to  Eome;  30,000 
are  reckoned  to  have  entered  and  left  daily,  while 
200,000  w^ere  in  Eome  at  any  given  moment.  The'' 
amount  of  the  offerings  must  have  been  enormous,  and 
the  Ghibellines  naturally  declared  that  the  Jubilee 
had  its  origin  in  the  papal  need  for  money.  But  most' 
of  the  pilgrims  w^ere  poor ;  and  even  if  the  size  of  the 
crowds  were  a  just  measure  of  the  continued  hold 
of  the  Roman  Church  upon  the  people  of  Western 
Europe,  the  absence  of  all  the  monarchs  except  Charles 
Martel,  the  claimant  of  Huncfary,  was  significant. 
Indeed,  Boniface  had  already  experienced  a  foretaste 
of  the  independent  attitude  of  the  secular  princes, 
which  eventually  proved  fatal  to  him.  Rudolf  of 
Hapsburg  died  in  1291,  and  tlie  German  princes, 
rejecting  the  claims  of  his  son  Albert, 
ermany.  g^^jji^gj  Adolf  of  Nassau  as  their  Kinir.  ]>ut 
Adolf  proved  less  submissive  than  his  electors  had 
hoped  to  find  him.  He  was  deposed  and  fell  in  battle, 
and  Albert  was  chosen  and  crowned  witliout  any 
reference  to  the  Pope — the  first  occasion  on  which  the, 
German    princes  had  acted  without  papal   authority. 


1 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPHIE  AND  PAPACY      275 


Boniface  had  already  barred  Albert's  claims.  He  now 
refused  to  recognise  him,  declaring  that  the  Empire 
owed  all  its  honour  and  dignity  to  the  papal  favour. 
Nevertlieless,  in  1303  circumstances  forced  him  to 
accept  Albert,  especially  since  Albert  was  willing  in 
return  to  confirm  all  that  his  father  Eudolf  had 
*  granted  to  the  Papacy. 

P>ut  this  quarrel  with  Germany  sinks  into  insignifi- 
cance before  the  great  contest  of  Boniface  with 
France,  with  which  his  English  dispute  was  p.^^^ 
also  closely  connected.  The  Hohenstaufen  quarrel 
had  fallen  before  the  Papacy  because  their  with 
German  kingdom  and  the  "  German  "  Empire  ^^^"^'^  J""^ 
rested  on  no  solid  foundation.  But  in  his 
attempts  to  coerce  France  and  England  into  obedience 
the  Pope  found  himself  face  to  face  with  two  strong 
national  monarchies.  Boniface  failed  to  grasp  the 
position.  Edward  I  of  England  and  l*hilip  lY  of 
France  were  engaged  in  war.  Each  resorted  to  every 
available  method  of  raising  money  for  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  and  among  other  ways  laid  heavy  taxes  on 
the  clergy.  Boniface  having  failed  to  make  the  Kings 
submit  their  quarrels  to  his  judgment,  issued  a  bull, 
Clericis  Laicos  (February,  1296),  by  which  he  forbade, 
under  pain  of  excommunication,  that  any  prelate  or 
ecclesiastical  body  should  pay  or  laymen  should  exact 
from  the  clergy  any  taxes  under  any  pretext  without 
papal  leave.  Edward  I  met  this  manifesto  by  con- 
fiscating the  lay  fees  of  all  ecclesiastics ;  wdiile  Philip 
forbade  the  export  of  all  money  from  France,  thus 
depriving  the  Pope  and  all  Italian  ecclesiastics 
endowed  with  French  benefices,  of  the  usual  sources  of 
income  from  France.     The  Englisli  clergy,  with  the 


276        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 

exception  of  the  Archbisliop  of  Canterbury,  made  tlieir 
own  arranij;enicnts  with  tlie  Kini;.  lUit  in  order  to 
avoid  a  rupture  with  France  Doniface  issued  another 
bull,  Ineffahilis,  in  which  he  explained  tliat  ecclesias- 
tics were  not  forbidden  to  contribute  to  the  needs  of 
the  State  ;  and  by  subsequent  letters  he  allowed  that 
they  might  pay  taxes  of  tlieir  own  free  will,  and  even 
that  in  cases  of  necessity  the  King  might  take  taxes 
without  waiting  for  the  papal  leave.  He  certainly 
told,  his  lecjates  to  excommunicate  the  Kincj  and  his 
officials  if  they  should  prevent  money  coming  from 
France;  but  in  order  to  gain  Philip's  favour  he  granted 
him  the  tithe  of  the  French  clergy  for  three  years,  he 
placed  Louis  IX  among  the  recognised  saints  of  the 
Churcli,  and  he  promised  that  Philip's  brother,  Charles 
of  Valois,  should  be  made  German  King  and  Emperor. 

Good  relations  liaving  been  established  Philip  and 
Edward  now   ai^reed   to  submit   their   differences  to 
Boniface.     Philip,  however,  stipulated  that  Boniface 
should  act  in  the  matter  not  as  Pope  but  in  a  personal 
capacity,  and  the  Pope  issued  his  award  "  as  a  private 
person  and  Master  Benedict  Gaetani "  (June  )-30,  1298). 
But   the  judgment  was   in   the  form    of  a    bull,  and 
ordered  that  the  lands  to   be  surrendered  on  eitlier 
side   should   be  placed  in  the  custody  of    the  papal/ 
officers.      Philip  could  not  reject  the  award;   but  liel 
determined  to  prepare  for  a  conflict  wliich  was  clearly] 
inevitable.     He  gave  refuge  to  some  members  of  the^ 
Colonna  family,  and  he  made  an  alliance  witli  Albert 
of  Austria  (1299). 

Meanwhile   l)oniface  began  a  second  quarrel  with 
England.     Edward  I   had  refused  tlie  papal  offers  of     j 
mediation  on  behalf  of  Scotland.    But  after  the  battle    "^ 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY       277 


of  Falkirk  tlie  national  representatives  of   Scotland 
appealed   to   Boniface  as   suzerain   of   the 

kingdom.      The    Pope    wrote    to    Edward    Second 

Quarrel 
claiming  that  from  ancient  times  the  kingdom    ^-^j^ 

of  Scotland  had  belonged  by  full  right  to    England; 
the   Itoman    Church,  and  demanding  that 
Edward  should  submit  all  causes  of  difference  between!  • 
himself  and  the  Scots  to  the   Papacy.     The  English 
answer  was  given  in  a  Parliament  called  for  the  purpose 
to  Lincoln  (1301),  by  which  a  document  addressed  to 
the  Pope  asserted  for  the  English  Kings  a  right  over  I 
Scotland   from    the    first    institution    of    the  English 
kingdom,  and  denied  that  Scotland  had  ever  depended    \ 
in    temporal    matters    on  the   Eoman    Pontiff'.     Any    . 
further  action  was  prerented  by  the  beginning  of  the    ) 
final  quarrel  between  Boniface  and  Philip. 

The  Pope  found  it  necessary  to  complain  frequently 
of  Philip's  misuse  of  the  royal  right  of  regale,  and  in 
1301  relations  became  so  strained  that  he 
sent  a  legate,  Bernard  of  Saisset,  Bishop  of  ^^ 
Panders  in  the  south  of  France.  But  Ber- 
nard was  arrogant,  and  on  being  claimed  by  Philip  as 
a  subject,  he  exclaimed  that  he  owned  no  lord  but  the 
Pope.  Since  Boniface  administered  no  reproof  Philip 
procured  the  condemnation  of  the  Bishop  for  treason. 
The  Pope  in  fury  issued  four  bulls  in  one  day,  the 
most  important  addressed  to  Philip  and  beginning 
Ausculta  Jili,  in  which  he  asserted  that  God  had  set  up 
the  Pope  over  Kings  and  kingdoms  in  order  to  destroy, 
to  scatter,  to  build  and  to  plant  in  His  name  and 
doctrine.  Philip  caused  the  bull  to  be  publicly  burnt 
— *'  the  first  flame  which  consumed  a  papal  bull " — 
and  called  an  Assembly  of  the  Estates  of  the  Eealm, 


2  78        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

in  which  for  the  first  time  the  commons  were  inchided. 
The  Cardinals,  in  answering  the  remonstrances  sent  by 
the  nobles  and  commons,  denied  tliat  the  Pope  had 
ever  told  tlie  King  that  he  should  be  subject  in  temporal 
matters  to  Ivome ;  and  Boniface  assured  the  French 
clergy  that  he  merely  claimed  that  the  King  was 
subject  to  him  "  in  respect  of  sin." 

But  in  July,  1302,  the  burghers  of  Flanders  inflicted 

a  severe  defeat  on  the  French  forces  in  the  battle  of 

Courtray ;  and  the  Po})e,  taking  advantage  of  Philip's 

humiliation    before  Europe,   immediately   assumed   a 

more  defiant  attitude.    In  a  Council  at  Kome 

TVi<a  final 

and  before  tlie  French  envoys,  he  declared 
strug'gle.  ,  '' 

that  his  predecessors  had  deposed  three 
Kings  of  France  and,  if  necessary,  lie  would  depose 
the  King  "  like  a  groom  "  {yarcio).  He  followed  this 
up  by  issuing  the  most  famous  of  his  bulls,  Unain 
Scfuctai/i,  in  whicli  he  roundly  asserted  that  the  sub- 
mission of  every  human  creature  to  Eome  was  a 
condition  of  salvation.  Finally,  while  on  the  one 
side  he  excommunicated  Pliilip  (April  13,  1303),  he 
hastened  to  recognise  Albert  as  King  of  Germany, 
and  ratified  the  peace  made  between  Frederick  of 
Sicily  and  Charles  of  Yalois.  Philip  on  his  side 
abandoned  his  Scots  allies  in  order  to  make  peace 
with  England  (May  20,  1303),  and  called  for  a  second 
time  an  Assembly  of  the  Estates.  ]5efore  its  members 
the  aged  Pope  was  accused  of  heresy,  murder,  and 
even  lust ;  and  the  appeal  to  a  General  Council  was 
now  adopted  V)y  the  rei)resentatives  of  tlie  whole 
French  nation.  But  it  was  certain  that  the  excom- 
munication of  I'liili})  would  be  followed  by  his  deposi- 
tion;  and    Phili]*   and   his    councillors    determined  to 


I 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  PAPACY      279 

forestall  this.     Urged  on  by  the  Colonnas  the  French 
King  conceived  the  plan  of  seizing  the  person  of  the 
Pope  and  bringhig  him  before  a  council  to  be  held 
at  Lyons.     Boniface  was  at   his  native  Anagni,  and 
riiilip's  emissaries,  in  conjunction  with  many  Italian 
enemies  of  the  Pope,  forced  their  way  into  the  town  1 
and  seized  the  old  man  (September  3,  1303).     He  was  * 
rescued  and  taken  back  to  Piome ;  but  the  shock  of  the  « 
attack   unhino;ed   his    reason    and   hastened  his  end.  1 
He  died  on  October  11  at  the  age  of  eighty- six.     His 
foes  described  his  last  days  in  lurid  colours ;  but  the 
violent  behaviour  of  his  enemies  caused  strong  disgust 
throughout  Christendom. 

To  a  contemporary,  Boniface  was  "magnanimus 
peccator,"  the  great-hearted  sinner;  while  a  modern 
historian  descril)es  him  as  "  devoid  of  every  spiritual 
virtue."  If  Canossa  was  the  humiliation  for  the 
Empire  which  the  ecclesiastical  annalists  describe,  in 
the  pettiness  of  the  stage  and  the  insignificance  of  the 
actors  Anagni  was  an  ample  revenge  of  the  lay  spirit. 
The  I^apacy  which  had  worn  down  the  Empire  had 
dashed  itself  in  vain  against  the  new  phenomenon  of 
a  strong  national  spirit. 


CHAPTER    XVII 
THE   CHURCHES   OF  THE   EAST 

AHTSTOPtl'  of  the  Cluircli  Universal  must  needs 
take  some  notice  of  those  Christian  communities 
The  which  never  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of 

Eastern  Rome.  Chief  amonsj  these  stands  the  Church 
Church.  q£  ^i^g  Eastern  Empire  where  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  strove  to  make  himself  at  least  the 
equal  of  tlie  Bishop  of  Rome.  This  mutual  jealousy 
of  the  old  and  the  new  Rome  was  only  one  of  the 
causes  of  quarrel  between  them,  a  quarrel  which  was 
fanned  from  time  to  time  by  the  appeal  of  a  defeated 
party  in  some  ecclesiastical  dispute  at  Constantinople 
to  the  Pope.  Tlie  most  famous  of  these  disputes  was 
that  begun  by  the  deposition  of  tlie  aristocratic 
Ignatius  from  the  patriarchate  in  favour  of  the  learned 
Photius.  Roth  Emperor  and  Patriarch  appealed  from 
Constantinople  to  I'ope  Nicholas  I;  but  when  that 
masterful  bishop  decided  against  the  new  patriarch, 
Photius  used  his  learning  to  summarise  in  eight  articles 
the  ditl'erences  between  east  and  west.  Of  these,  two 
concerned  such  important  matters  as  the  doctrine  of 
the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  practice  of 
clerical  celibacy. 

The  schism  made  by  this  quarrel  was  healed  for  the 
moment,  but  for  the  first  time  the  points  of  difference 

2S0 


THE    CHURCHES    OF   THE    EAST  281 


between    the    two    Churches    had    been    crystallised. 

The  Eastern  Emperors,  however,  who  still    Breach 

possessed   lands  in    the  Italian    peninsula,    between 

felt  it  to  their  interest  to  remain  friendly    East  and 

West 
witli  tlie  pope,  and  in  1024  an  attempt  on 

the  part  of  Basil  II  to  adjust  the  question  of  dignity 
by  the  suggestion  that  both  the  I'atriarch  and  the  Pope 
should  assume  the  title  of  Universal  bishop,  was  only 
defeated  by  the  inextinguishable  jealousy  of  the 
AVestern  Church.  The  presence  of  the  Normans  in 
Southern  Italy  should  have  united  Pope  and  Eastern 
Emperor  against  the  intruders  ;  but  the  Greek  Church 
only  saw  in  the  Norman  successes  a  danger  lest 
Southern  Italy  should  pass  from  the  Greek  to  the  Latin 
communion,  and  the  Patriarch  Llichael  Caerularius 
joined  with  the  Bulgarian  Archbishop  of  Achrida  in 
publicly  warning  the  inhabitants  of  Apulia  against 
the  errors  of  the  Latin  Church.  The  one  especially 
noted  was  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  at  the  Sacra- 
ment, with  the  addition  of  others  of  even  less  import- 
ance. The  Emperor  Constantino  Monomachos  strove 
hard  in  the  interests  of  peace  and  even  compelled  a 
literary  champion  of  the  Greek  Church,  Nicetas 
Pectoratus,  a  monk  of  the  monastery  of  Studium,  to 
repudiate  his  own  arguments.  But  the  violence  of  the 
papal  envoys  and  the  obstinacy  of  the  Patriarch  made 
agreement  impossible.  Einally  the  legates  laid  upon 
the  altar  of  St.  Sophia's  Church  a  document  in  which 
Michael  and  all  his  party  were  anathematised ;  and 
the  Patriarch  responded  by  summoning  a  Council, 
which  in  like  manner  banned  the  Western  Church 
(1054).  Not  only  was  Michael's  action  supported  by 
the  clergy  and  people  of  Constantinople,  but  it  was 


282        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE    EMPIRE 

ratitied  by  the  approval  of  the  I'atriarchs  of  Bulgaria 
and  Antioch. 

Attempts  to  promote  reunion  between  the  Churches 
were  made  at  intervals.  The  danger  from  tlie 
Attempts  at  Mohammedans  forced  the  Emperors  of  the 
reconcilia-  East  to  seek  liclp  in  the  West  and  encouraged 
^^0"-  the  theologians  of  the  West  in  their  main- 

tenance  of  a  perfectly  rigid  attitude.  These  approaches 
began  with  the  forced  intercourse  of  the  Eirst  Crusade, 
and  in  1098  Urban  II  held  a  Council  at  Bari  among 
the  Greeks  of  Southern  Italy,  at  which  Anselm  of 
Canterbury,  then  in  voluntary  exile,  was  put  forward 
to  propound  the  Eoman  view.  In  1112  Peter  Groso- 
lanus  the  defeated  candidate  for  the  archbishopric  of 
Milan,  as  an  emissary  of  Pope  Pascal  II  discussed  the 
points  at  issue  before  the  Emperor  Alexius  Connienus 
and  was  answered  by  Eustratius  Archbishop  of  Nicaea. 
Again  in  1135  Lothair  III  had  sent  as  ambassador  to 
John  Comnenus  a  Premonstratensian  Canon  Anselm 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Havelberg,  who  held  a  debate 
with  Nicetas  Archbishop  of  Nicomedia.  According  to 
tlie  report  which  lie  subsequently  drew  up  at  the 
request  of  Eugenius  III,  the  points  discussed  were  the 
procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  use  of  unleavened 
bread  and  the  claims  of  Eonie.  A  generation  later  the 
Emperor  Manuel  Connienus  held  a  conference  at 
Constantinople  (1170)  for  the  promotion  of  a  union 
which  he  sincerely  desired;  while  extant  letters  of 
Eugenius  III  and  Hadrian  IV  to  ecclesiastics  of  the 
Eastern  Church  sliow  that  the  head  of  the  AVestern 
Church  did  not  ignore  the  (question  uf  Christian  unity. 
But  there  were  too  many  political  causes  of  division. 
The  success  of  the  crusaders  involved  tlie  establishment 


THE   CHURCHES    OF   THE   EAST  283 


of  the  Latin  Church  in  lands  claimed  by  the  Eastern 
Empire.  And  this  affected  not  only  the  principalities 
of  Syria,  but  also  Cyprus  which  Eichard  Coeur  de  Lion 
conquered  and  handed  over  to  Guy  of  Lusignan  in 
compensation  for  liis  lost  kingdom  of  Jerusalem ;  as  a 
consc(|uence  of  which  the  Greek  clergy  and  monks  there 
were  cruelly  persecuted.  The  aggression  of  the  Latin 
Church  was  even  more  conspicuous  when  the  Normans 
conquered  Thessalonica  in  118G  and  treated  the  Greek 
churches  and  services  with  contumely,  and  when 
Innocent  III  took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the 
Bulgarian  monarch  had  repudiated  the  suzerainty  of 
Constantinople,  to  reassert  over  the  Bulgarian  Church 
the  supremacy  of  Eome.  The  Greeks  did  not  suffer 
without  protest  and  the  massacre  of  the  Latins  of 
Constantinople  under  the  usurper  Andronicus  (II80) 
showed  the  depth  as  well  as  the  impotence  of  the 
Greek  hatred.  The  climax  of  all  previous  acts  of 
usurpation  was  reached  in  the  capture  of  Constanti- 
nople and  the  organisation  of  a  Latin  Church  beside 
the  Latin  empire.  But  the  Greek  Emperors  who 
ruled  at  Nicaea  found  it  politic  to  pretend  a  desire  for 
union  of  the  Churches,  and  in  1233  and  again  in  1234 
neo'ociations  were  carried  on  between  the  Greek  Patri- 
arch  Germanus  and  some  Dominican  and  Franciscan 
emissaries  of  Geogory  IX.  But  the  bargaining  was 
one-sided ;  for  while  with  Eome  Christian  unity  never 
rose  above  an  object  to  be  kept  in  view,  to  the  Greeks 
of  the  East  it  presented  itself  as  the  only  condition 
on  which  they  could  claim  the  help  which  might  save 
them  from  gradual  extinction.  And  this  became  even 
more  apparent  than  hitherto  after  the  reconquest  of 
Constantinople  by  the  Greeks;  for  it  seemed  as  if  the 


284        THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

prospect  of  a  peaceful  reunion  of  the  Churches  alone 
niiglit  remove  the  pretext  now  given  to  the  princes  of 
the  West  for  a  new  crusade  directed  against  Constan- 
tinople. This  was  no  imaginary  danger ;  for  Charles  of 
Anjou  and  Naples  had  made  himself  the  champion  of  the 
dispossessed  Latin  Emperor  and  was  preparing  to  attack. 
So  Michael  Palaeolugus  who  had  rewon  Constantinople 
for  the  Greeks  and  himself,  made  overtures  to  Tope 
Urban  IV ;  and  net^ociations  were  thus  beo:un  which 
ended  in  the  appearance  of  Greek  delegates  at  the 
second  Council  of  Lyons  in  127-4.  These  acce})ted,  on 
behalf  of  the  Greek  Church  and  empire,  the  primacy 
of  liome  and  the  Latin  Creed.  In  return,  the  lUd- 
garian  Church  was  once  more  restored  to  its  own 
Metropolitan  at  Achrida.  But  all  Michael's  coercive 
efforts  failed  to  make  the  union  acceptable  to  his  own 
clergy  and  people.  It  was  so  difiicult  to  carry  out  the 
promised  assimilation  of  the  Greek  to  the  Latin  forms 
that  the  Topes  became  impatient ;  and  when  Nicholas 
III,  tlie  o[)}»onent  of  Charles  of  Sicily,  was  succeeded 
by  Martin  lA^,  the  tool  of  that  ambitious  monarch,  the 
excommunication  launched  by  the  new  Tope  against 
tlie  Eastern  Emperor  was  merely  a  preliminary  step 
to  the  general  attack  on  the  empire  planned  by  Charles. 
Michael's  son  and  successor  Andronicus  entirely  repudi- 
ated the  agreement  made  at  Lyons ;  but  the  misfortunes 
of  Charles  in  Sicily  removed  the  serious  danger  of 
invasion  from  the  West.  Overtures  for  ecclesiastical 
union  were  not  renewed  until  the  conquests  of  the 
Turks  in  the  Lalkan  peninsula  forced  the  Greeks  to 
seek  external  aid. 

The  internal  condition  of  the  Eastern  Church  during 
these  centuries  does  not  call  for  much  detailed  treat- 


THE   CHURCHES   OF   THE    EAST  285 

ment.     The  end  of  the  iconoclastic  quarrel  had  been 
followed  ])y  tlie  development  of  great  elal)-    internal 
oration  of  ceremonial  in  the  services.      It    condition 
is    true    that   learning   was   not   dead   and    °^  Church, 
that  the  Emperors  of  the  Comnenan  house  distinctly 
encouraged  it.     lUit  the  literature  of  ancient  Greece 
and  the  theological  works  of  the  Fathers  of  the  early 
Church  appeared  to  the  writers  of  these  centuries  to 
have  exhausted  all  earthly  possibilities  in  their  re- 
spective spheres.     The  writings  of  learned  Christians 
did  not  rescue  their  religion   from  pure  formalism; 
while  the  study  of  the  classics  led  them  to  the  ancient 
philosophers    and   landed   many    of    the    students   in 
paganism.     Under  the  circumstances  it  is  not  perhaps 
wonderful  that  there  arose  a  sect  called  Gnosimachi 
who  deprecated  any  attempt  after  knowdedge  of  the 
Scriptures   on    the   ground   that   God   demands  good 
deeds  done  in  all  simplicity.     It  is,  however,  among 
the  monks,  if  anywhere,  that  personal  piety  should 
have  been  retained.     But  such  as  existed,  was  inclined 
to  take  fantastic  forms ;  and  we  are  told  of  those  who 
wrapped  themselves  round  with  the  odour  of  sanctity 
by  self-inflicted  tortures  of  a  useless  and  meaningless 
kind.      There   was   no   foundation   of    new    monastic 
Orders  in  the  East  such  as  during  these  centuries  led 
to  the  maintenance  of    the  missionary  spirit  in  the 
West.     But  it  was  from  the  monastic  bodies  alone 
that  any  opposition  was  offered  to  the  actions  of  the 
Emperor.      The   most  noteworthy  case    w^as   that    of 
the  Abbot  Nicephorus  Blemmydes  whose  attempts  to 
promote  an  understanding  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Churches  (1245)  were  foiled,  because  he  had 
the  temerity  to  deal  harshly  with  the  mistress  of  the 


'9,6        THE  CHLRCH  AND  THE  EMPHIE 


Emperor  John  Dukas.  Indeed  the  imperial  authority 
was  an  influence  stronger  than  any  other,  witli  tlie 
possible  exception  of  liatred  of  the  Latin  Church. 
Sucli  dogmatic  discussions  as  occasionally  arose,  were 
concerned  witli  unimportant  points :  l)ut  the  partici- 
pation of  the  Emperor  did  not  necessarily  tend  to 
eitlier  trutli  or  peace.  Manuel  I  not  onl}"  intervened 
in  such  disputes,  but  even  started  them  himself  and 
enforced  his  view  by  punishing  those  who  took  the 
opposite  side. 

The  Eastern  Cliurcli,  like  that  of  tlie  West,  had  to 
deal  with  lieretical  sects.     The  Paulicians  who  in  the 
.  ninth  century  had  formed  a  politico-religious 

community  on  the  confines  of  the  empire, 
were  deprived  of  their  political  power  by  Basil  I  in 
872  ;  while  in  9G9  John  Tzimisces  transferred  a  portion 
of  tliem  from  their  settlements  in  Asia  Minor  to  the 
district  of  Philippopolis  in  Thrace.  Here  they  throve, 
until  their  desertion  of  tlie  Emperor  Alexius  in  his 
war  against  Eobert  Guiscard  and  the  Normans  ended 
the  toleration  hitherto  extended  to  the  exercise  of 
their  religion,  and  the  "  thirteentli  apostle,"  as  his 
literary  daughter  Anna  Comnena  styles  liim,  entered 
on  a  plan  of  forcible  conversion.  Alexius  also  dealt 
severely  with  another  body  of  heretics.  The  Bogomiles 
were  iDerhaps  a  revival  of  the  earlier  sect  of  the 
Euchites  or  Messalians  wlio  are  mentioned  by  writers 
of  tlie  fourth  century.  The  origin  of  the  name  is 
obscure,  l)ut  it  is  said  to  mean  "  Friends  of  God." 
Their  tenets  resembled  those  of  the  Cathari  with 
whom  they  were  most  probably  connected.  Alexius 
by  pretending  sym]»athy  got  from  their  leader  an 
avowal  of  his  doctrines  and  then  had  him  burnt  (lllG). 


THE   CHURCHES   OF   THE   EAST  287 


JUit  in  neither  of  these  cases  did  violent  suppression 
achieve  its  purpose.  Despite  the  foundation  of  the 
orthodox  city  of  Alexiopolis  in  the  neiglibourhood, 
the  Paulicians  still  continued  about  Pliilippopolis, 
where  they  were  secretly  strengthened  in  their  par- 
ticularist  attitude  by  the  continued  presence  of  the 
remnants  of  the  Bogomiles.  Even  a  century  later  the 
Patriarch  Germanus  (1230)  attacks  the  latter  on  the 
plea  that  they  are  still  secretly  making  converts. 

Of  the  other  Christian  Churches  of  the  East  we 
have  seen  that  the  Nestorians  were  very  active  among 
the  Tartars  throughout  Asia.  They  and  other 
their  Syrian  neighbours  but  dogmatic  op-  Eastern 
ponents,  the  Jacobites,  a  monophysite  body,  Churches, 
adopted  a  conciliatory  disposition  towards  the  crusaders. 
In  1237  the  prior  of  the  Dominicans  in  Jerusalem 
reported  to  Gregory  IX  that  the  Maphrian  of  the 
Jacobites,  a  kind  of  lesser  patriarch,  had  acknowledged 
the  supremacy  of  Eome ;  but  a  submission  given  from 
stress  of  circumstances  carried  no  permanent  weight ; 
and  subsequent  correspondence  between  Innocent  IV 
and  officials  of  both  churches  seems  to  have  been 
wilfully  misunderstood  at  Kome.  There  were  two 
other  Christian  churches  whose  conduct  was  guided  by 
proximity  to  the  Mohammedans.  The  small  body  of 
the  Maronites  on  Mount  Lebanon  kept  their  ancient 
customs  but  attached  themselves  to  the  Eoman  Church 
in  1182  and  remained  faithful  to  her.  The  more 
important  Armenian  Church  wavered  between  Ptome 
and  Constantinople.  Manuel  Comnenus  made  over- 
tures to  the  Patriarch  or  Catholicos,  which  were  pre- 
vented from  coming  to  any  result  by  the  emperor's 
death.     Shortly  afterwards  Leo  the  Great  of  Armenia 


288         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

was  recognised  as  King  by  tlie  Emperor  Henry  VI 
and  was  crowned  by  the  Archbisho})  of  Mainz ;  and  in 
return  he  and  his  Catholicos  recognised  tlie  supremacy 
of  liome.  In  1240  the  Greek  patriarch  tried  to  win 
over  the  Catholicos  to  tlie  Eastern  Church.  In  1292 
the  Armenian  King  Haiton  IT,  who  l)ecanie  a  Francis- 
can friar,  persuaded  his  churcli  to  accept  the  iLoman 
customs :  but  despite  this  nominal  subjection  to  Ivome, 
the  obstinacy  of  the  people  prevented  any  real  change 
in  either  doctrine  or  organisation. 


APPENDIX   I 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  l)ibliograpliy  aims  merely  at  indicating  to  students  who 
are  likely  to  read  this  book,  where  they  may  obtain 
rather  more  detailed  information  on  some  of  the  most 
important  subjects  treated. 

GiESELER.     Ecclesiastical   History  (translated    from    the 

German,  most  valuable  for  documents). 

MoELLER.     History  of  the  Christian  Church  (translated 

from  the  German,  useful  for  reference). 

MiLMAN.     History  of  Latin  Christianity  (a  standard  work, 

diffuse). 

Robertson.     History  of  the  Christian  Church  (the  best 

work  in  English). 

Gregorovius.     History   of    Rome    in   the  Middle   Ages 

(translated  from  the  German). 

R.  W.  and  A.  J.  Carlyle.     Mediceval  Political  Theory 

in  the  West. 

Gierke.     Political  Theories  of  the  Middle  Age  (translated, 
with  a  valuable  introduction,  by  F.  W.  Maitland). 
Poole.     Illustrations  of  Mediceval  TJiought. 
Rashdall.      Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
H.  C.  Lea.     Sacerdotal  Celibacy. 
Church.     St.  Anselm. 

Stephens.     Hildehrand,  and  His  Times  (Epochs  of  Church 

History,  an  excellent  short  account). 

Balzanl     Popes  and  Hohenstaufen  (Epochs  of  Church 

History), 
u  289 


2go         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 

^loRisoN.     aSY.  Bernard. 
A.  LuciiAiRE.     Innocent  III. 
E.  Gebiiart.     Ijltalie  Mystique. 
Sabatier.     Francis  of  Assisi  (translated). 
Renax.     Studies   in   Religious   History    (Essays   on    St. 

Francis  and  the  Everlasting  Gospel). 

CouLTON.     Frorn  St.  Francis  to  Dante  (a  resume  of  the 

Chronicle  of  Salimbene  dealing  with  the  Franciscans). 

H.  C,  Lea.     History  of  the  Inquisition  (valuable  for  the 

account  of  medicBval  heretics). 
Beazley.     Dawn  of  Modern  Geography  (for  the  Friars 

in  Asia). 

L.  Breiiier.     UEglise  et  V  Orient  au  May  en  Age. 


APPENDIX   II 

LIST   OF   EMPERORS   AND   POPES 


EMPERORS. 


Saxon  House. 

Henry  II,  1002-1024 


Salian  or  Franconian  House. 
Conrad  II,  1024-1039 
Henry  III,  1039-1056 


Henry  IV,  1056-1106 


(Anti-kings.) 
Rudolf  of  Suabia,  1077-1080 
Herman  of  Luxemburg,  1082-1088. 

Conrad  of  Franconia,  1093-1101     . 

291 


POPES. 

Sylvester  11,  999-1003. 
John  XYII,  1003. 
John  XYIII,  1003-1009. 
Sergius  lY,  1009-1012. 
Benedict  YIII,  1012-1024. 

Gregory  (anti-pope). 
John  XIX,  1024-1033. 
Benedict  IX,  1033-1046. 

Sylvester  III  (anti-pope), 
1044-1046. 
Gregory  YI,  1044-1046. 
Clement  II,  1046-1047. 
Damasus  II,  1048. 
Leo  IX,  1048-1054. 
Yictor  II,  1055-1057. 
Stephen  IX,  1057-1058. 

Benedict  X  (anti-pope), 

1058-1059. 
Nicholas  II,  1058-1061. 
Alexander  II,  1061-1073. 

Honorius  II  (anti-pope), 
1061-1062. 
Gregory  YII,  1073-1085. 

Clement  III  (anti-pope), 
1080-1100. 
Yictor  III,  1086-1087. 
Urban  II,  1088-1099. 


29: 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE 


EMPERORS. 

Henry  Y,  1106-1125 


,   Lothairll,  1125-1138 
Holiensfaufen  or  Suahian  House. 

Conrad  III,  1138-1152       . 


Frederick  I,  1152-1190      . 


{ 


Henry  VI,  1190-1197 
Otto  IV,  1197-1212  . 
Philip  II,  1197-1208 


POPES. 

PascallT,  1099-1118. 
(Anti-popes.) 


1100. 
1102. 
1105-1111. 


Theodoric 

Albert 

Sylvester  IV 
GelasiusII,  1118-1119. 

Gregory  VIII  (anti-pope), 
1118-1121. 
CalixtusII,  1119-1124. 
HonoriusII,  1124-1130. 

Innocent  II,  1130-1143. 
(Anti-popes.) 

Anacletus  II U 130-1 138. 

Victor  /1138. 

Celestine  II,  1143-1144. 
Lucius  II,  1144-1145. 
EugeniusIII,  1145-1153. 
Anastasius  IV,  1153-1154. 
Hadrian  IV,  1154-1159. 
Alexander  III,  1159-1181. 
(Anti-popes.) 

Victor  IV      >!  1159-1164. 

Pascal  III      I  1161-1168. 

CalixtusIII  1 1168-1178. 

Innocent  IIlJ  1178-1180. 
Lucius  III,  1181-1185. 
Urban  III,  1185-1187. 
Gregory  VIII,  1187. 
Clement  III,  1187-1191. 
Celestine  III,  1191-1198. 
Linocent  III,  1198-1216. 
Honorius  III,  1216-1227. 


EMPERORS    AND    POPES 


293 


EMl'EROHS. 


Frederick  II,  1212-1250    . 
(Anti-kings.) 
Henry  Raspe,  1246-1247 
William  of  Holland,  1247-1256 

Conrad  IV,  1250-1254       . 


1257-1272 


Richard  of  Cornwall,  \ 
Alfonso  of  Castile;  J 
Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  1273-1291 


Adolf  of  Nassau,  1292-1298 
Albert  of  Hapsburg,  1298-1308  . 


POPES. 

Gregory  IX,  1227-1241. 
Celestine  IV,  1241. 
Innocent  IV,  1243-1254. 
Alexander  IV,  1254-1261. 
Urban  IV,  1261-1264. 
Clement  IV,  1265-1268. 
Gregory  X,  1271-1276. 
Innocent  V,  1276. 
Hadrian  V,  1276. 
John  XXI,  1276-1277. 
Nicholas  III,  1277-1280. 
Martin  IV,  1281-1285. 
Honorius  IV,  1285-1287. 
Nicholas  IV,  1288-1292. 
Celestine  V,  1294. 
Boniface  VIII,  1294-1303. 


u  2 


INDEX 


Abailard,  his  life,  108-10  ;  as 
classical  scholar,  117  ;  as  critic, 
190,  193  ;  as  philosopher,  114, 
115  ;  as  teacher,  118 

Adalbert,  Archbishop  of  Bremen, 
19,  20,  24,  233 

Adolf  of  Nassau,  274 

Albert  of  Hapsburg,  274-5,  276, 
278 

Albertus  Magnus,  119,  121,  182, 
192 

Albigenses,  204,  208,  217 

Alexander  II,  pope,  18,  19,  20, 
22 

Alexander  III,  pope,  his  reign, 
131-8  ;  and  papal  power,  167, 
173,  193  ;  and  secular  power, 
63,  66  ;  and  heretics,  203,  208, 
209  ;  and  clerical  marriage,  71  ; 
aud  monastic  orders,  79,  81  ; 
and  St.  Bernard,  110 ;  and 
Irish  Church,  163  ;  and  Mon- 
gols, 240 

Alexander  IV,  pope,  121,  177, 
221,  260 

Alexander  of  Hales,  121, 186, 192 

Alexius,  Eastern  emperor,  34,  42 

Alfonso  X,  King  of  Castile,  69, 
180,  261,  266 

Anacletus,  anti-pope,  94,  97,  99- 

101 
Annates,  175 

Ansel m,  St.,  archbishop,  as  philo- 
sopher, 114,  122  ;  as  teacher, 
108,  118  ;  as  theologian,  1S6, 
196,  282  ;  and  lay  investiture, 
48,  53  ;  and  clerical  marriage, 
71 
Appeals,  papal,  172,  180 


Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  as  philo- 
sopher, 121  ;  as  teacher,  119, 
221  ;  on  papacy,  165,  171,  172, 
179  ;  on  councils,  170  ;  on  cleri- 
cal celibacy,  72  ;  on  sacra- 
ments, 182,  185,  186,  187  ;  on 
confession,  189  ;  on  indul- 
gences, 192  ;  on  the  Virgin 
Mary,  196,  197 
Aristotle,  works  of.  111,  113, 119, 

122 
Armenian  Church,  227,  287 
Arnold  of  Brescia,  103,  104,  125, 

129 
Augustine,  St.,  3,  107,  182 
Augustinian  canons,  75,  218 


Becket,  St.  Thomas,,  archbishop, 
and  clerical  immunities,  67 ; 
exile,  132 ;  popularity,  133  ; 
murder,  136 

Benedict  IX,  pope,  12 

Berengar  of  Tours,  21,  38,  183, 
198 

Bernard,  St.,  his  influence,  77, 
95,  99,  101,  193;  as  defender 
of  the  faith,  103,  104,  109,  110, 
116,  201,  213  ;  on  the  Papacy, 
172,  178  ;  on  doctrine  of  the 
two  swords,  4  ;  on  worldli- 
ness  of  clergy,  69  ;  on  the 
Cluniac  monks,  85  ;  on  the 
Virgin  Mary,  195,  196,  197  ; 
and  the  schism,  100  ;  and  the 
second  Crusade,  105  ;  and  the 
divorce  of  Louis  VII,  106 

Bogomiles,  286 

Bohemia,  232 


295 


•Qfi 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE 


Bonaveiitiira,  St.,  as  teacher,  121, 
221 ;  as  Franciscan  general,  225, 
230;  on  the  sacraments,   182; 
on  the  Virfjin  Mary,  195 
Boniface   VIII,   pope,  as  legate, 
222 ;     his    reign,    271-9 ;     on 
papal  power,  170 
Brethren  of  the  Sword,  237 
l'>ulgarian  Church,  283,  284 
Bulls,  papal,  Clcricis  Laicos,  275  ; 
Ineffabilis,  276  :  Ausculta  Fill, 
211  \     Unam     Sand  am  ^    278  ; 
others,  274,  276,  277 


Calixtus  II,  pope,  52,  55,  85,  92, 

208 
Canonisation,  173,  193 
Canon  Law,  169-72,  187,  253 
Canossa,  30,  35.  279 
Carthusians,  82 
Cathari,  204 -8,  217,286 
Celestine  III,  pope,  67,  80,  141, 

151,  153,  154 
Celestine  V,  i)ope,  231,  270 
Charles  of  Anjou  and  I  of  Naples, 

243,  258,  262,  284 
Charles  II  of  Naples,  270,  271, 

272 
Charles  of  Valois,  270,  272,  276, 

278 
Christian  of  Oliva,  238 
Cistercians,  foundation,  86  ;  mode 

of  life,  87  ;  decay,  88  ;  and  the 

Virgin    Mary,    195  ;    and    the 

Spanish  orders,   81.     See   also 

St.  Bernard 
Claire,  Order  of  St.,  225 
Clarendon,  Constitutions  of,  59, 

67,  180 
Clement  III,  anti-pope,'  33,  34, 

39,44 
Clement  IV,  pope,  167,  177,  263 
Cluniacs,    organisation,    10,    75, 

81,    84-6,   87  ;  popularity,   74, 

94.     See  also  21,  40 
Colonnas,  272-3,  276,  279 
Concordat  of  Worms,  54,  59,  93, 

96,  98,  127,  156 
Confession,  187,  188 


Conrad  II,  12 

Conrad  III,  93,  99,  102-5,  126, 
128 

Conrad  IV,  258,  259 

Conrad,  son  of  Henry  IV,  41, 
44,  96 

Conradin,  264 

Constance  of  Sicily,  139,  150 

Crescentines,  11 

Crusades,  first,   42-5,   105,    195, 
282  ;  second,  105-6  ;  third.  80, 
140  ;     fourth,     154,    161  ;     of 
1217,    247  ;    of   Frederick    II, 
249  ;  of  Louis  IX,  265 

Curia,  papal,  174 

Dante,  5,  124,  175 

Decretals,  66,  72,  164,  169,  253 

Dicfafus,  Papii€,   164,    166,    169, 

170,  172,  176,  178,  179 
Dispensations,  papal,  171 
Dominic,  St.,  162,  210,  217-3  9 
Dominicans,  s[»read  of  order,  218  ; 

rivalry  with  Franciscans,  223  ; 

tertiaries,    226  ;    as    teachers, 

121  ;  and  heresy,  213,  222  ;  as 

emissaries,  242,  283 
Duns  Scotus,  123,  197,  222 

Eastern  Church,  internal  condi- 
tion, 284-6  :  quarrel  with 
Latins,  280-1  ;  attempts  at  re- 
union, 265,  266-9,  282-4.  See 
also  156,  186 

Edmund,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  259, 
262 

Edward  I  of  England,  265,  275, 
277 

Elias  of  Cortona,  227 

Elections,  papal,  15,  22,  59,  137, 
266  ;  episcopal,  58-60,  167 

England,  and  the  papacy,  37, 
163,  168,  174,  175  ;  and  cleri- 
cal immunities,  66  ;  and  cleri- 
cal marriage,  71-2  ;  and  heresy, 
207,  214 

Esthonia,  conversion  of,  235,  238 

Eucharist,  181,  182,  187,  189, 
204 


INDEX 


297 


Eugenius  III,    pope,    104,    105, 

110,  125,  235 
"Everlasting  Gospel," 229,  230 
Excommunication,  of  the  Em- 
peror, 131,  139,  151,  152,  157, 
249,  250,  251,  254,  256;  of 
others,  125,  142,  163,  155, 
159,  160,  199,  203,  209,  210, 
278 

Finland,  235 

Flagellants,  230 

Fontevraud,  monastic  order  of, 
83 

Francis,  St. ,  of  Assisi,  his  order, 
222-4,  228  ;  canonisation  of, 
219,  225;  and  Innocent  III, 
162,  218  ;  and  the  Mohamme- 
dans, 226 

Franciscans,  and  Innocent  III, 
218  ;  the  Rule,  224  ;  tertiaries, 
226  ;  as  missionaries,  226  ;  as 
emissaries,  242,  283  ;  as  stu- 
dents of  medicine,  222  ;  Spirit- 
uals and  Conventuals, 227-3 1 ; 
and  immaculate  conception, 
197  ;  and  later  scholasticism, 
121 

Frederick  I,  62,  64,  105,  127, 
128,  129-41,  178,  180 

Frederick  II,  66,  68,  80,  120, 
143,  150,  157,  180,  222,  228, 
241,  246-58,  263 

Fulk  of  Neuilly,  154,  216 

Gelasius  II,  pope,  52 

Gerard    of     Borgo-san-Donnino, 

229 
Ghenghiz  Khan,  240 
Gilbert  de  la  Porree,  110,  116 
Grammont,  monastic  order  of,  82 
Gregory  VI,  pope,  12,  21,  190 
Gregory    VII,    pope,    as    Hilde- 
brand,  13,   15,   17,  20,  21,  22, 
37,  183  ;    contest  with  empire, 
25-38  ;    papal  claims  of,   148, 
164,   178  ;    compared  with  St. 
Bernard,  107  ;  Alexander  III, 
138  ;  Innocent  III,  147,  148  ; 


influence    in    Spain,    163  ;    in 
Hungary,  232  ;   and  monastic 
orders,  82,  89,90;  and  bishops, 
•  166  ;    and   legates,    176  ;    and 
tithes,  64  ;  and  appeals,  173  ; 
and  indulgences,  190 
Gregory  VIII,  pope,  173 
Gregory  VIII,  anti-pope,  52 
Gregory  IX,  pope,  his  reign,  248- 
55  ;    as    legislator,    169  ;    and 
clerical  marriage,  200  ;  and  in- 
dulgences,   191  ;     and    friars, 
219,  220,  228 
Gregory  X,  pope,  265-8,  269 
Grossteste,    Robert,    Bishop    of 
Lincoln,  168 


Hadrian   IV,    pope,    his    reign, 

125-31  ;  and  Arnold  of  Brescia, 

104  ;  in  Scandinavia,  125,  235. 

See  also  167,  174,  180 
Hanno,  Archbishop  of  Koln,  19, 

20,  24,  233 
Henry  II,  emperor,  11 
Henry  III,  emperor,  12,  21,  56, 

232 
Henry  IV,  emperor,   24-46,  190, 

233, 234,  235 
Henry  V,  emperor,  44-56,  62,  92, 

98,  235,  237 
Henry  VI,  emperor,  139,  141-4, 

150,  157 
Henry     the     Lion    of    Saxony, 

102,   127,  133,  138,  141,  152, 

236 
Henry,  son  of  Frederick  II,  158, 

159 
Henry  of  Lausanne,  201,  205 
Henry  I  of  England,  96 
Henry  II  of  England,  106,   132, 

134,  135,  137,  180 
Henry  III  of  England,  160,  180, 

260 
Heresy,  135,  156,  198-215,   222, 

252^  285,  286 
Herman  of  Luxemburg,  34,  39 
Herman  von  Salza,  80,  247 
Honorius  II,  pope,  77,  92,  94 
Honorius  II,  anti-pope,  19 


298         THE   CHURCH    AND   THE   EMPIRE 


Houorius  111,  jiope,  his  leigii, 
246-8;  and  friars,  218,  219, 
224.     See  also  80,  174 

Hosiiitallers,  Knights,  78,  216, 
250 

Hungary,  161,  232 

Ignatius,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, 280 

Ininiaculate  Conception,  doctrine 
of,  196 

Indulgences,  189,  274 

Infallibility,  papal,  doctrine  of, 
178-9 

Innocent  II,  pope,  94,  96,  98, 
101,  103,  163,  164,  172,  208 

Innocent  III,  pope,  his  reign, 
145-62  ;  and  papal  power,  165, 
167,  177,  179,  191  ;  and  secu- 
lar power,  3,  61,  63,  66,  250  ; 
and  heresy,  209,  211,  214  ;  and 
friars,  218,  224,  225.  See  also 
118,  238 

Innocent  IV,  pope,  168,  171, 
221,  239,  241,  255-9 

Interdict,  papal,  153,  160,  177, 
250 

Investiture,  lay,  9,  23,  24,  25, 
26,  36,  37,  40,  47,  49,  50,  51, 
53,  54,  58,  60,  147 

Ivo,  Bisho])  of  Chartres,  47,  48, 
74,  175 

Jacobite  Church,  227,  287 
Jerusalem,  244,  247,  250 
Joachim  de  Flore,  228,  229,  230 
John  of  Jiricnne,  247,  251 
John  of  England,  154,  159,  160, 

180,  210,  249 
John  of  ]\Ionte  Corvino,  245 
John  of  Parma,  229,  230 
John  of  Piano  Carpini,  242 
John  of  Salisbury,  3,   118,   174, 

177 
Jubilee,     papal,    of    1300,     192, 

273 

Lanfranc,  archbishop,  20,  37,  38, 
183 


Lateran  Councils,  170  ;    lirst,  54, 
71  ;  second,  71,  79,  103,  164. 
208  ;  third,  63,  64,   137,   173, 
209;    fourth,  61,  63,  162,  184, 
186,  189,   191,   212,  214,   218, 
246,  252 
Leo  IX,'po])e,  13,  14,  17 
Livonia,  conversion  of,  237,  239 
Lombard  League,  134,  248,  253 
Lothair  II,  76,  92,  96-100,  126, 

128,  178,  235 
Louis  VI  of  France,  94 
Louis  VII  of  France,   105,  132, 

134,  137 
Louis  VIII  of  France,  212 
Louis   IX   of  France,    168,   180, 

214,  241,  242,  258,  265,  276 
Lyons,   Council    of,    first,    256  ; 
second,  243,  266,  268,  284 


Manfred,  259,  262-4 
Manuel  Comnenus,  282 
Maronite  Church,  287 
Marriage    of  clergy,    9,   25,    37, 

71,  72,  200,  207,  280 
Martin  IV,  pope.  269 
Matilda,    Countess,   28,    30,    32, 

33,  40,  41,  49,  51  ;  her  gift  to 

the  Papacy,  33,  40,  52,  98,  99, 

130,  138,  140,  150,  153,  157 
Metropolitans,    165,     166,     175, 

176,  177 
Michael    Paheologus,    267,   284, 

286 
Milan,   18,    128,   130,   132,   134, 

135,  139,  207,  251 
Miracles,  193-4 
Mohammedans,    105,    119,    227, 

241 
Mongols,  227,  240 

Nestorian  Church,  119,  240,  242, 

244,  245,  287 
Nicholas  I,  pope,  8,  280 
Nicholas  II,  pope,  15,  17,  18,  22, 

40 
Nicholas  III,  pope,  175,  268-9 
Nicholas  IV,  pope,  270 


INDEX 


299 


Novbert,  St, ,  founds  Premonstra- 
tciisians,  76  ;  Arclibishop  of 
Magdeburg,  76,  235  ;  opposes 
Lotluiir,  98 ;  and  Abailard, 
lie,  193  ;  and  heresy,  200 

Normans,  16,  17,  22,  28,  34,  42, 
49,  97,  281 

Norway,  conversion  of,  233 

Otto  of  Bamberg,  237 
Otto  of  Brunswick,  152,   156-9, 
180,  246 

Pascal  II,  pope,  his  reign,  48-52. 

See  also  45,  71,  84,  170 
Paschasius  Radbert,  182,  184 
Pasteauroux,  230 
Patarins,  18,  28,  204,  207 
Paulicians,  207,  286 
Pauperes  Catholici,  217 
Penance,  181,  189 
Peter  of  Aragon,  270 
Peter  Damiani,  18,  20,  195,  196 
Peter  John  of  Olive,  231 
Peter  of  Murrone,  271 
Peter  the  Lombard,  117,  182,  188 
Peter  the  Venerable,  84,  86,  109, 

201 
Peter's  Pence,  37,  175 
Petrobrusians,  108,  109,  201,  205 
Philip  I  of  France,  36,  40,  49,  59 
Philip  II  Augustus  of  France,  61, 

67,    146,    153,    154,   157,    159, 

160,210 
Philip  III  of  France,  213 
Philip  IV  of  France,  222,   275, 

277-9 
Philip   of  Suabia   and  Tuscany, 

142,  150,  151,   152,  155,  156, 

237 
Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, 280 
Pilgrims,  274 
Plato,  113,  115 
Poland,  conversion  of,  232 
Polo,  Marco,  245 
Pontius,  Abbot  of  Oluny,  ■^4-5 
Premonstratensiaiis,  76,  -9^,  .?36, 
Prester  John,  240 
Prussia,  conversion  of,  28.8^      ■     ' 
'  >i  *  •  ' 


Ratramnus,  182 

Raymond  V  of  Toulouse,  208 

Raymond  VI,  209-13,  249 

Raymond  VII,  212-13 

Regale,  277 

Regalia,  61,  93,  127,  130 

Relics,  194 

Richard  I  of  England,  140,  142, 

152 
Richard,   Earl  of  Cornwall,  258, 

260,  266 
Robert  Guiscard,  33,  34 
Roger  Bacon,  124,  222 
Roger  of -Sicily,  97,  99-101,  128, 

139,  151 
Rome,    Commune  of,    103,    128, 

142,  149,  157,  251,  262 
Roscelin,  114 
Rudolf  of  Plapsburg,    180,    266, 

268    269  274 
Rudolf  of  Suabia,  31,  32,  33,  190 

Sacraments,  181,  205 
Scandinavia,  Christianity  in,  125, 

233 
"  Sicilian  Vespers,"  270 
Simon  de  Montfort,  211-12 
Simony,   9,  36,  37,  53,   70,  171, 

207 
Spain,  161,163 
Spanish  Military  Orders,  81 
Spoils,  right  of,  62,  156,  247 
Stephen  IX,  pope,  15,  22 
Stephen     Langton,     archbishop, 

160 
Suger,  Abbot  of  St,  Denys,  105, 

106 
Sweden,  234 

Tancred  of  Sicily,  141-2 
Taxation,  clerical,  63,  275 
Templars,  Knights,  77,  217,  250 
Tertiaries    of   Franciscan    Order, 

226 
Teutonic  I^nights,  80,  238 
;Tii:hK^s,,o4,  70,  180,  276 
^Tr;),n'^ubstantidfion,  184-5 
Truce  of  God,  68 
.Tuscnlan  |)ope3, 11 


J^OO 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE 


Universities,  118,  121,  170,  213, 
220 

Urb^'in  II,  pope,  his  reign,  40-4  ; 
and  papal  power,  170,  171, 
ISO  ;  and  clerical  immunities, 
66  ;  and  indulgences,  190  ;  and 
lay  rulers,  49,  53,  151.  See 
also  196,  235,  282 

Urban  III,  pope,  139 

Urban  IV,  pope,  120,  187,  191, 
221,  262,  284 

Yicelin,  236 


Victor  IV,  anti-pope,  131-2 
Victorines,    monastic    Order 
75-6,  116-17,  181 


of. 


Waldenses,  202,  216 

Wends,  234 

William  I  of  England,  163 

William  II,  180 

William  I  of  Sicily,  125,  129 

William  II,  136,  139,  141 

William  of  Champeaux,  108,  115, 

118 
William  of  St.  Amour,  221 


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